MOSCOW (AP) – Russia’s gross domestic product (GDP) contracted four per cent in the second quarter of this year, the first full quarter since Russia sent troops into Ukraine, the state statistical service said on Friday.
Russia was hit with a wide array of sanctions following its move into Ukraine on February 24, including sanctions that cut off some Russian banks from the SWIFT international transfer system, and a significant exodus of foreign companies.
The report by the Rosstat service did not analyse why GDP was lower this year than in the same quarter of 2021. But it said there was a 15.3-per-cent drop in wholesale trade and a 9.8 per cent contraction in retail trade.
Russia had reported sizable GDP increases in the first quarter of 2022 and for the last three quarters of 2021.
