Submerged, tax evasion and illegal economy continue to weigh down our country and, despite the progress in terms of collection and emergence, the road remains long and arduous.
In small steps, however, there are some signs of improvement. In the 2017-2018 ranking of Rule of Law Index (international indicator from the World Bank) Italy has in fact gained four positions, rising from 35th to 31st place out of a total of 113 nations.
A drop in the bucket, however, if one looks at the estimates made known by Srm (Studi e Ricerche per il Mezzogiorno) during the presentation held at the headquarters of the Banco di Napoli, of the new monographic issue of the international review Rassegna Economica entitled: "The economic value of legality and the effects on business and credit"
In fact, based on the data released, the value ofuntraced and shadow economy, in the boot exceeds the figure monstre of 320 billion euros. This is 19,5% of our GDP, a percentage which in the South rises to 24,8%.
A very high level which becomes even higher given that those relating to thecriminal and illegal economy which reach 3,4% of the GDP. In a nutshell: 56 billion euros.
Overall, the value of the so-called “non-observed economy” (i.e., untracked, submerged, and illegal activities) is approximately 22,9% of GDP, figure that rises to 29,8% in the South.
Based on what is calculated by Srm, if the "legal" and "transparent" component of the Italian economy managed to reach the average levels of the other countries in the Euro area, we would recover 2% of GDP: 30 billion euros. At the same time, the virtuous circle would make it possible to generate greater investments from abroad between 11 and 14 billion a year.
A positive impact would also be on credit, interest rates and NPLs. In fact, according to estimates, a single year of reduction in credit recovery times would lead to a reduction of approximately 20 billion euro in the stock of non-performing loans in the following three years and an increase in the average value of NPLs
