Russia is in the top 5 of the world's largest shadow economies
According to a report by the International Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Russia is in the top five countries with the largest shadow economies. There are 28 countries included in the rating.
Russia has the highest a shadow economy index, almost 84% higher than the world average. The volume of its shadow economy is estimated at 33.6 trillion rubles, or 39% of the country's GDP. According to the experts, the situation is worse only in Ukraine (46% of GDP), Nigeria (48% of GDP), and Azerbaijan (67% of GDP). Sri Lanka (38%) is in fifth place.
The lowest indicators of a shadow sector in 2016 were recorded in the USA (7.8% of GDP), Japan (10%), and China (10.2%). The ACCA study is based on a survey of leading entrepreneurs, as well as the findings of two expert groups. The estimation of the volume of the shadow sector is built on a two-sector model of the calculated general equilibrium, which includes such variables as consumer spending, investments to the country's GDP, real GDP per capita, employment, taxes to the country's GDP, government spending to the country's GDP and GDP growth rates, and the number of Internet users per thousand people.
ACCA analysts identify three main factors that determine the scale of the shadow economy in each country. In Russia, experts put the control over corruption at the top, the second is "democratic responsibility," and the third is GDP growth.
Rosstat (Russia's state statistics service) does not publish shadow economy data in open access. Earlier, Alexander Surinov, the Head of the Department, noted that its share fluctuates around 10-14% of GDP.