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| (www.eurasianet.org) |
MADRID – The National
Institute of Statistics (Instituto
Nacional de Estadística, INE) announced last week that Spain’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased by €26,193 million in 2013 because new
regulations from Brussels order the inclusion of illegal activities. This
includes all illegal activity, including the ‘profits’ from drug trafficking
(0.50% or €5,246 million, prostitution (0.35% or €) and people trafficking,
illegal gambling and contraband (largely of tobacco products, according to the
report). It was calculated that this added close to €9bn, yet is only 0.87% of
the total, which adds up to €1,049bn. However, the inclusion of illegal
activities has less of an impact on the increase than; the largest item is the
inclusion of R&D (in Spanish I+D+i),
which is up by 1.17% since 2010 (the base year used for calculations) and is
now considered an investment expense rather than an intermediate expense as it
was until last year. Military armament represents 0.17% of the total. Spain’s
2013 PNG is therefore €1,049bn. (See also Sex and Drugs to add to Europe's murky GDP figures.)
