Gabriel Angelfire

How does the indicated percentage change in Armored Grace, and other bonus/penalties for that matter, work? It's very unclear. Are they refering to add/subtract in Percentage Points or a percent change? Say, given armor has Recovery Speed: -40%. With Armored Grace, what would be my new Recovery Speed penalty? 24% (percentage points, 40-16 =24) OR 33.6% (40 x 0.84 = 33.6 (16% reduced from 40)? Thanks