Romania’s underground economy reaches EUR 38 billion in 2016

Romania's underground economy accounted for 22.4% of the official gross domestic product (GDP) last year, amounting to EUR 38 billion, according to provisional data provided by the National Statistics Institute (INS), reports local Profit.ro. The largest contribution (22.1%) was made by the “unseen economy”, which includes black work, VAT fraud and the informal sector (unregistered individual entrepreneurs). The remaining 0.3% represented illegal activities, namely drug trafficking, prostitution and smuggling of alcohol and tobacco. Romania's underground economy accounted for 22.1% of GDP in the first quarter of this year, or EUR 7.7 billion. In 2016, the Romanian economy grew by 4.8%. It was the highest annual rate since 2008. The GDP thus reached EUR 169.6 billion, according to INS. In the first quarter of this year, the annual economic growth accelerated to 5.7%. Industry becomes main driver for Romania’s economic growth editor@romania-insider.com