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Bulgaria’s grey economy dropped to 25% in 2017

Monday, Jul 16, 2018

Informal economy in Bulgaria dropped with the steady 3.07 per cent in 2017 to reach a level of 25.22 per cent, compared to the higher 28.29 per cent in 2016, data by the composite index Towards the Economy of Light showed. The index is measure by the Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association (BACB). Legal business had a 74.78% share of the economy in 2017, up from the 71.71% in 2016, BACB said.

The data was presented yesterday by prof. Stefan Petranov, leader of team that created the index, and Vassil Velev, board chairman of BICA. Petranov pointed out the index shows survey data from both employees and commercial enterprises regarding the following: the share of main and additional work with labour contracts on full wages, proper declaration of taxes and custom duties, and issuance of cash receipts for services and goods. The statistical component covered data about the share of money, VAT, informal employment, excise and export. With much precision we can claim that the share of informal economy in Bulgaria is 25 per cent, said Vassil Velev (in the photo).

In his words, in 2010 when the index was first measured the share of grey economy was 35 per cent. Economic sectors, like tourism, construction, agriculture, trade and services registered serious percentage numbers of informal activities, while machine building, power generation, electronics, electrical engineering and metallurgy were much more in the light. The larger the business the less the probability of it engaging in grey practices. Same applies to incomes – the profitable the economic sector and the higher the wages, the rare the share of informal practices, Velev said.

The positive trend was due to improved financial and economic stability, measures to enhance business environment and the growth of global economy, which led to an increase in the volume of foreign trade.

Source: standartnews.com