Poland's shadow economy gradually shrinking

Photo: Glowimages

The shadow segment of Poland's economy stands at some 23.8 percent of the country's gross domestic product, according to international research carried out by professor Friedrich Schneider.

Compared to other European countries, the segment is fairly large in Poland.

It is at its smallest in Switzerland, where it stands for just 7.1 percent of the GDP, in Austria (7.5 percent) and Luxembourg (8 percent).

The shadow economy is at its largest in Bulgaria (31.2 percent of the GDP), Romania and Croatia (28.4 percent).

The Polish black market has been declining for years and is now at its smallest in a decade.

Year-on-year declines have been recorded regularly since 2003, with the exception of 2009, when the shadow economy to GDP ratio grew by 0.6 percentage points.

Between 2003 and 2013 the segment shrank by 3.9 percentage points.

A similar trend has been observed in all EU countries.

The shadow economy of the whole bloc stood at 22.3 percent of the GDP in 2003 and ten year later the ratio was at 3.9 points less. (kw)

Source: Forsal.pl