Sex, drugs add billions to Spanish economy

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Published on Sunday, 28 September 2014 03:02

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Published: 4:52 am, Friday, 26 September 2014                           <img

 

Trade in sex and drugs has boosted Spain's economic output by nearly 10 billion euros in a year." title="Trade in sex and drugs has boosted Spain's economic output by nearly 10 billion euros in a year."/>Trade in sex and drugs has boosted Spain's  economic output by nearly 10 billion euros ($A15 billion) in a  year, new official data reveals.The figures came in a report on Thursday by Spain's National  Statistics Institute, which for the first time applied EU norms  requiring illicit activities to be counted in estimates of gross  domestic product.The institute estimated that in 2010, illicit activities,  principally prostitution and drug transactions, but also tobacco  smuggling and gambling, accounted for 0.87 per cent of the economy  overall - equivalent to 9.4 billion euros.Once production was recalculated using the new norms, Spain's  GDP in 2013 was more than 26 billion euros or 2.56 per cent higher  than previously estimated - 1.05 trillion euros overall, the  institute said.That new figure included illegal activity but also other legal  sources of income that were previously excluded from the  calculation, such as military assets and research investment.The institute said it consulted "academic and scientific  studies" and official reports and surveys to estimate income from  illegal activities, in line with the standards set by the EU  statistics body Eurostat.Eurostat ordered countries to provide data on lucrative  activities such as prostitution and drug-dealing on the grounds  that they were a trade carried out willingly by participants.Some countries rejected Eurostat's request. France refused to  provide data on prostitution, arguing that it was not necessarily  carried out willingly, while Sweden, where paying for sex is a  crime, also refused.Spain emerged from recession in mid-2013.After five years of crisis sparked by the bursting of a  construction bubble in 2008, Spain's unemployment rate is still  close to 25 per cent. -

 

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