Source: Safras & Mercado - 21/07/2010

São Paulo, July 21, 2010 The production of goods and services not reported to governments, called the underground economy, reached R $ 578 billion in Brazil in 2009, which represents 18,4% of the Brazilian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and it exceeds Argentina's GDP, for example, according to the new Underground Economy Index, created by the Brazilian Institute of Competition Ethics (ETCO) and the Brazilian Institute of Economics of the Getulio Vargas Foundation (Ibre / FGV). The index has a new methodology and calculated how much it represents the informal economy since 2003, which in that year was R $ 357 billion (21% of GDP). According to Ibre, the drop is mainly due to the increase in GDP and income of the population in this period. According to the organization, the objective of the index is to show how significant the informal economy is still in the country and causes a decrease in the quality of investment and a reduction in the growth potential of the Brazilian economy, making government resources destined to education programs. , health and infrastructure are not used in the best way. DF / Agência Leia