OTTAWA -- Canadian wholesale sales rose 4.3 percent to a record high of 65 billion Canadian dollars (about 49 billion U.S. dollars) in July, according to Statistics Canada on Friday.

July was the growth of wholesale sales for a third consecutive month due to higher sales in the motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts and accessories subsector. (Canada-Wholesale)

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TIRANA -- Albania's economy was strongly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic during the first half of this year, Gent Sejko, governor of the Bank of Albania (BoA), said during a videoconference with representatives of the International Monetary Fund.

The videoconference participants discussed the economic impact of COVID-19 and the country's prospects for recovery, the BoA said in a press release on Friday.

Sejko said that the pandemic had a particularly adverse effect on consumers' behavior, investments, employment and public debt. (Albania-Economy-Coronavirus)

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WASHINGTON -- The U.S. current account deficit widened sharply in the second quarter as the COVID-19 pandemic weighed on U.S. exports, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

The current account deficit, which reflects the combined balances on trade in goods and services and income flows between the United States and other countries, widened by 52.9 percent to 170.5 billion U.S. dollars in the second quarter, the department said. (US-Current Account Deficit)

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MOSCOW -- Russia's central bank on Friday kept its key lending rate at 4.25 percent.

"In recent months, price growth rates were slightly higher overall than the Bank of Russia's expectations," it said in a statement. (Russia-Central Bank-Rate Cut)