The level of the shadow economy in Ukraine in 2014 increased by 7 percentage points compared to 2013, to 42% of GDP, reaching a record high since 2007, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade has reported in its study.

As noted in the study, the level of shadow economy last year was extremely high and was caused by the military conflict in the country, financial destabilization (the significant deficit of the balance of payments, price and exchange rate shocks, the increased loss of production), the increasing panic of economic agents, and the increased administrative burden.

According to the ministry, in 2014 all methods for calculating the shadow economy uncovered growth in comparison with 2013. In particular, the "electric" method (the comparison of the growth in electricity consumption to GDP growth) exhibited an increase of 9 percentage points, to 39% of official GDP, the monetary method - by 8 percentage points, to 32%, the "public expenses-retail turnover" method - 7 percentage points, to 57%, and the loss-making enterprises method - 5 percentage points, to 34%.