Economic activity of the developed world have dropped dramatically in December.

Economic activity of the developed world in December 2008 fell sharply, as evidenced by the main indicator Somposite leading indicator (CLI), expectant Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), brings together 30 developed nations . Progress report on the state of the world economy has been published on the OECD website on 6 February.
In the OECD report notes that in most developed countries CLI fell to a minimum since the oil crisis of 1970. In particular, CLI, calculated for the U.S. in December fell by 9.5 points compared with the same period in 2007. CLI of the eurozone fell by 8.2 point for the year in Japan - in paragraph 7.3, the UK - at 6.8 points and Germany - once at 11.8 points.
The index of economic activity, calculated by the OECD to the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) that are not part of the OECD, also declined. Thus, Russia's CLI lost 17.7 points compared with December 2007.
Remember, even at the end of 2008, the OECD forecast that the economic downturn of 2009 in the leading countries of the world will be the most significant over the past 25 years. The organization also predicted that the financial crisis in 2009, will continue.
OECD was established in 1948 to coordinate projects for economic reconstruction of Europe after the Second World War. Russia is not included in the OECD, but filed an application for entry in 1996. In May 2007, Russia received an invitation to begin negotiations for membership in the organization.