Domestic grey economy amounts to 21 billion euros

The volume of the grey economy in the Czech Republic increased by 0,4 billion euros to 21 billion euros in 2014. According to a study carried out by the Visa company, the experts expect that this amount will grow to 21,9 billion euros this year.

The share of the grey economy in GDP reached 15 percent last year, which is below the European average of 18.5 percent. In the post-communist countries of the Eastern Europe, this average makes up 24,4 percent.

The volume of the grey economy in the Czech Republic is, nevertheless, gradually sinking. In 2007, it amounted to 17 percent of the Czech GDP.

„Our priority is to reduce the volume of the grey economy,“ the Confederation of Industry’s vice-president Radek Špicar said at the conference organized in Prague‘s Kaiserstein Palace on Friday 30^th January where the Visa company‘s study has been presented. The event was part of the Year of Industry and Technical Education iniciative launched by the Confederation in 2015.

„The share of the grey economy could be reduced by means of a more effective control over the tax-collecting,“ Špicar stressed. „Simultaneously, the authorities have to facilitate business, reduce bureaucracy and strengthen law enforcement.“

The largest share of the grey economy is thought to be among the wholesale and retail companies as well among those from the construction and transport branches.

According to the Visa company‘s study, a ten-percent enhancement of the electronic payment could reduce the volume of the grey economy by 4 to 6 percent in a four years time which amounts to 1,4 billion euros.