FILE - A woman walks past an exchange office screen showing the currency exchange rates of U.S. Dollar to Russian Rubles in St. Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, July 5, 2022. Russia’s gross domestic product contracted 4% in the second quarter of this year, the state statistical service said Friday, Aug. 12. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky, File)

Russian GDP drops 4% in Q2 -- 1st full quarter of fighting

By Associated Press AP

PUBLISHED 6:57 PM ET Aug. 12, 2022

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s gross domestic product contracted 4% in the second quarter of this year, the first full quarter since Russia sent troops into Ukraine, the state statistical service said Friday.

Russia was hit with a wide array of sanctions following its move into Ukraine on Feb. 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 analyze why GDP was lower this year than in the same quarter of 2021. But it said there was a 15.3% drop in wholesale trade and a 9.8% contraction in retail trade.

Russia had reported sizable GDP increases in the first quarter of 2022 and for the last three quarters of 2021.