The size of the shadow economy amounts to around 40-50% of GDP, according to KyivWeekly. This is the so-called unofficial economy, underground production and crime, Director of the R&D Center at the National University of the State Tax Service Zakhariy Varnaliy told KW.
“Renting apartments, houses and garages, private tutoring and private repair brigades can all be considered elements of a grey economy. This means that formally these are legal types of activity that are simply not accounted for in official statistics and do not represent a particular interest in taxation terms,” Mr Varnaliy says.
According to him, a grey economy, which in many developed countries constitutes up to 10% of the GDP, is a positive phenomenon, as it can absorb social shocks. For example, in Ukraine in the early 1990s many citizens survived thanks to auxiliary homesteads and vegetable gardens.
