Black market = 22 per cent of Portuguese GDP

Who says this is Carlos Pimenta, an investigator for the University of Oporto, heading the Economy and Fraud Management Observatory.

The figure represents a much higher value than the European average among countries within the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), where the black economy averages out at 16.3 per cent.

This “unregistered economy” represents activities that don’t go through the nation’s books, with the objective of tax-dodging.

It favours illegal activities, like human and drug trafficking, and money-laundering.

Equally, “moonlighting, and “trying to make ends meet” are still linked to this informal economy – a reality that can’t be ignored, Pimenta stresses.