Geneva, 24 Mar Russia's economy, a country subject to intense international sanctions as a result of its invasion of Ukraine, will fall by 7.3 per cent in 2022, the United Nations Development Conference (UNCTAD) estimated today in its updated forecast report. Six months ago, the UN agency predicted that the Russian economy would grow by 2.3% this year, but given the economic consequences of the war, it has decided to lower this forecast by 9.6 points and predicts that Russia will be the country most affected by the economic consequences of the war that began a month ago. As a result of this downward revision in Russia, UNCTAD also estimates that Europe's economy will grow by only 0.9 per cent, compared to 3 per cent estimated half a year ago, a percentage that would place the Old Continent well below the expected GDP increases in America (2.4 per cent) and Asia (3.8 per cent). In the European Union, the United Nations agency expects growth this year to be 1.6 per cent, less than half of what it predicted in September (3.3%). Not all EU countries will be affected equally, and so Germany, which is very dependent on Russian gas, will grow by only 1.4 per cent (1.8 points less than estimated six months ago), while France will do so by 2.4 per cent (one point less) and Italy by 1.6 per cent (1.4 points less), according to UNCTAD's predictions. For the United Kingdom, the report released today by the agency forecasts growth of 1.3 per cent this year, nine tenths less than the 2.1 per cent it had calculated in September. CHIEF abc/pddp