Source: Bonito News (Dourados / MS) - 26/07/2010

The informal economy in Brazil, generated by workers who evade taxes, moved R $ 578 billion last year. This value corresponds to 18,4% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product, sum of the country's wealth), according to data released by FGV (Fundação Getúlio Vargas) and by ETCO (Brazilian Institute of Competition Ethics). In June of this year, the index was 121,8 points, on a scale from zero to 160, in the May result since 2003 - the year the measurement started to be performed. Between June 2008 and June 2009, informal participation in GDP grew by 22,6%, due to the financial crisis. Analysts explain that with the decrease in tax collection due to the crisis, there was a stimulus to informality, as well as a reduction in world growth and a fall in economic activity.

André Franco Montoro Filho, ETCO's executive director, stated that the result corresponds to Argentina's GDP. Informal economy is the name given to the production of goods and services not reported to the government in order to evade the payment of taxes and contributions and non-compliance with labor laws and regulations. - We are talking about almost R $ 600 billion, which are outside the formal Brazilian economy. To give an idea of ​​the seriousness of this problem, just remember that Brazil's underground economy surpasses the entire Argentine economy. The study released on Wednesday also allows the values ​​to be compared since 2003, when the series of index estimates began. In the period, the values ​​went from R $ 357 billion to the current R $ 578 billion. As the GDP grew from R $ 1,7 billion to R $ 3,143 billion, there was a percentage decrease in the comparison, from 21% to 18,4% in six years. In other words, despite the growth of informality, the formal economy managed to grow above the illegal ones.

Informality, in addition to relations with organized crime and precarious working conditions (with the hiring of employees without a formal contract), brings direct losses to society, with a stimulus to the drop in the quality of investment, according to analysts responsible for the study. Among the reasons given for the growth of informals is unemployment, since the difficulty in finding a formal job stimulates. Corruption and the high rate of taxes charged on products also contribute to the black market. The increase in exports, which are sales of products abroad, helps to combat the problem, since it has an influence on GDP.