YEREVAN (Armenpress)–Chief of the Armenian National Statistical Service Stepan Mnatsakanian admitted today that the share of the so-called informal or shadow economy in Armenia’stands between 30-40 percent. Speaking at a meeting convened by an organization of journalists called "Anti-Shadow," Mnatsakanian said this figure was based on the results of several studies.
Shadow economy–according to him–is most widely practiced in trade–where it totals to about 67 percent–along with 31 percent in industry and 24 percent in agriculture. The volume of informal activities and unregistered circulation–according to Mnatsakanian made up about $640 million of the GDP in 2001.
The volume of circulation of unregistered and informal basic consumer goods totaled nearly $57 million.
No estimation of illegal activities is carried out in Armenia–which–according to Mnatsakanian–is accounted for by the absence of financial means.
