Government seeks to reduce shadow economy to 25% - Economy Ministry

The Ukrainian government is planning to draw up a three-year action plan to reduce the shadow economy in the country to 25%.

Minister of Economy Oleksii Liubchenko said this at the first meeting of the interdepartmental working group on de-shadowing of Ukraine's economy, Ukrinform reports, referring to the ministry’s press service.

"Ukraine’s economic security strategy for the period up to 2025, which was put into effect by the President’s Decree, clearly indicates the urgent need for solving the problems of shadow activities in the economy. According to preliminary calculations of the Ministry of Economy, the level of the shadow economy now is 30% of official GDP.  We have gathered to work out proposals to de-shadow the economy in all sectors, we need to develop some targeted measures, reach systemic solutions, even before the introduction of institutional changes,” Liubchenko said.

The meeting addressed three main issues: assessment of Ukraine’s shadow economy general tendencies, the role of financial sector in the processes that may lead to shadowing the economy, and counteracting shadow activities in the tobacco industry.

As Ukrinform reported, Ukraine’s shadow economy in 2020 was 30% of official GDP compared to 27% of GDP in 2019.

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