The economy grew in the closing quarter of 2004 at an annual rate of 3.8 percent. There are even better prospects for the current quarter of this year. The report released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday confirmed the previous estimate made a month ago.

The economy is expected to grow at a rate of around 4 percent or slightly faster for the current January-to-March quarter. Economic growth probably will slow a bit in the April-to-June period but will still be healthy, according to some analysts’ prognosis.

However, the economy’s growth does not resolve other questions like those of inflation taking off, with jobs market imbalance and oil prices increase.

The strong economy and firm jobs situation seem to be one of the main priorities for President Bush as he tries to implement his vision of Social Security. The main point of his plan would allow workers to establish personal investment accounts in stocks and bonds, using a big chunk of payroll taxes for this purpose.