KINGSTON – Rhode Island’s economy remained “moribund” in July, despite a slight recovery from June’s all-time low, according to University of Rhode Island economist Leonard Lardaro. His Current Conditions Index (CCI) measures the Ocean State’s current economic climate by following 12 state and national economic indicators. The latest report was “better than last month, but not by much,” Lardaro wrote.

The CCI rose to 17 points in July – matching the April score that was the highest yet this year – after falling to its lowest possible reading of 0 points in June. (Any value higher than 50 signifies the state’s economy is in expansion; scores below 50 signify the economy is in retraction.)

But the index was down 41 points from the July 2007 score of 58 points, the highest reading all last year and the most recent score above the index’s neutral 50 points.

“I have now become very worried about Rhode Island’s economy,” Lardaro wrote in announcing the latest CCI results. “As both the national and global economies slow, it is readily apparent that Rhode Island has no margin for error in dealing with this heightened weakness. … We have now been in a recession for almost a year.”

And there is no end in sight: “2008 is proving to be the worst year statistically of any for which CCI values have been calculated,” he said, adding: “The only bright spot is that we will now be comparing to recession levels for the remainder of this year, which will produce higher CCI values.”

The Current Conditions Index, created by University of Rhode Island economist Leonard Lardaro, measures the strength of the state’s economic climate. Values above 50 points indicate the economy is expanding. Additional information, including historic data back through 1983, is available at members.cox.net/lardaro/current.