The black market is a big burden on growth in Spain, and it is affecting fair trade among other countries in the country.
A study from the Spanish Confederation of Employers' Organizations (CEOE) has cited that Spain's underground economy accounts for about 20% of the country's GDP (around 20 billion euros) despite the fact that illegal business activity has diminished by 14% since 2003, or nearly 3% of GDP.
The crisis has curbed this trend, because financial difficulties tend to increase illegal operations.
Companies also believe that tax increases encourage activity in the underground economy, even though illegal business is a more common phenomenon in peripheral European countries than those countries in the interior, which indicates that there is a relationship between existing economic structures and the need to change them.
