Germany's shadow economy to hit €360.3 billion by late 2022

The volume of Germany's "shadow" economy will grow by € 22.1 billion reaching € 360.31 billion by late December, 2022.

Life in Germany is getting more expensive. According to one forecast, the shadow economy in the country will also grow – by a tenth of the gross domestic product Der Spiegel reports.

According to the calculations by the Linz finance scientist Friedrich Schneider, high inflation could bring about a noticeable increase in undeclared work in Germany. 

Accordingly, the shadow economy in Germany will increase by 22.1 billion to 360.31 billion euros in 2022 compared to the previous year, which corresponds to 10.1 percent of the gross domestic product. The value of the shadow economy in Germany in 2021 was 338.12 billion euros or 9.51 percent of GDP.

At the beginning of the year, Schneider had originally calculated that the shadow economy would decline as a result of the good economic development.

"The energy crisis and high inflation rates reversed this result," said the researcher.

According to Schneider, the calculations are based on four assumptions: the inflation rate is around nine percent, there will be no complete gas supply stop this year, the war in Ukraine will not escalate and the supply chain problems will not worsen.