Italy is out of recession, and it’s thanks to prostitutes and drugs.
A change in data calculations across the EU means illegal activities such as prostitution d drugs are now included in the GDP measure.
When the revenue of illegal activities is added to the Italian economy it boosts domestic product figures so that the GDP rises slightly from the 0.1 per cent decline of earlier this year, to a flat reading for this quarter.
The national institute of statistics confirmed a 0.2 per cent decline in the second quarter, but the revision of the first quarter data, with the illegal enterprises taken into account, meant the country had escaped its third recession in the last six years.
For a country to be in recession an economy must contract in two successive quarters.
The new system has been brought in to make it easier to compare economics from different nations, regardless of if they have legalised prostitution of drugs.