Bulgarian shadow economy accounts for 30% of GDP - study

Red tape, corruption and unemployment are the three main factors driving the country's shadow economy, a study conducted by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) showed.

In 2016, Bulgaria's GDP amounted to 92.6 billion levs ($53.9 billion/47.4 billion euro).

In the 2020-2025 period the share of the country's shadow economy is seen slightly decreasing to 29.6%.

The global average among the 28 countries included in the survey is 22.5% in 2017 and is projected to decrease to 21.4% by 2025.

Bulgaria ranked eighth among the countries in the survey.

The share of shadow economy was largest share in Azerbaijan - 66.1% of GDP, and lowest in the US - 7.7%.

(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)