A new study has shown that while the official economy may be struggling, Portugal’s black economy has never had it so good. It is now worth a record 26.81% of GDP which is equivalent to €45.9 billion “or 60% of the loan requested to the troika”.
Revealing what almost everyone in Portugal will be easily able to accept, the vice-president of Porto University’s fraud observatory pointed out that the country’s levels set against GDP have doubled since 1970 – but that they have effectively increased 300 times when compared to the €151 million turnover of the “black economy” at that time.
Giving an in-depth analysis of all the causes, Óscar Afonso highlighted the problem that, on one hand, the State “seems to want” to tackle the parallel economy, but on the other it closes its eyes to “big things, like offshore fiscal paradises”.
There has to be “much more transparency” in the running of public resources, he added, and “a quick, effective justice system” (namely one that makes illicit enrichment a crime, inverting the onus of proof).
Few would disagree with him, though his next stipulation – “educating civil society on the perverse effects of the parallel economy” – is unlikely to see him receiving many invitations over Christmas.
