decline year on year. and this is very telling, because it usually says things about the state of the economy, of household confidence, and also about the access to spare parts. so the russian economy isn t doing well. and what is really striking is that it will register a recession this year in 2022, but also next year. and that is very significant. butjust very briefly on that, i mean, the critics will say, you know, russia s got a very healthy current account surplus and they will point to that by and say, you know, the sanctions aren t really working. i m glad you asked because this is a very good example of bad economics. essentially, you can t have an idea of the state of an economy by looking at the current account or the trade surplus. usually the argument is twofold that the russian rouble is doing very well, and it s true that it has recouped its losses from the first days and weeks of the russian invasion of ukraine. but what this shows
gdp, the size of the economic pie, is more than 4% lower than it was when. a year ago, retail sales, that is to say what households consume has shrunk by io%. investment has dropped off a cliff. and automotive production, the production of cars, which is usually the canary in the coal mine, it has registered a 64% decline year on year. and this is very telling, because it usually says things about the state of the economy, of household confidence, and also about the access to spare parts. so the russian economy isn t doing well. and what is really striking is that it will register a recession this year in 2022, but also next year. and that is very significant. butjust very briefly on that, i mean, the critics will say, you know, russia s got a very healthy current account surplus and they will point to that by and say, you know, the sanctions aren t really working. i m glad you asked because this is a very good example of bad economics.
ROME, July 11 (Xinhua) The ongoing crisis in Ukraine continued to take a negative toll on Italy economic situation, the country main statistics entity report