Hanoi (VNA) – Economists and managers gathered at aconference in Hanoi on December 13 to discuss the role and significance of theinformal economy, thus seeking proper policies for the sector.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Cong Nghiep said that although the informal economicsector exists in all economies, the sector’s operation is particularly strong indeveloping countries due to incomplete legal frameworks, as well as weak inspection,supervision and administrative systems.

Over 50 percent of the non-agricultural workforce in the majority of low-and middle-income economies work in the unofficial economic sector, he said,noting that the figure in Central Africa is over 80 percent.

The informal economic sector accounts for about 30 percent of GDP inLatin America, more than 50 percent in India, and over 60 percent in Sub-SaharanAfrica.

According to the professor, in more developed economies, while itdiffers from nation to nation, generally speaking the sector is smaller inscale. In the US, the percentage is 5.4 percent of the GDP; in Sweden, 6percent; Spain, 17.2 percent; and Italy, 19.8 percent.

Some experts estimated that the sector’s scale in Vietnam is about 20-30percent of the GDP. The General Statistics Office (GSO), while yet to give anofficial figure, holds the view that the number is less than 30 percent of theGDP.

Whatever the exact number is, it is obvious that such economic activitiesare complex, said Nghiep.

Economist Dang Le Doanh said that the fast development of technology andthe dynamism of a strong, integrated economy may create spaces for a number ofdigital economic forms to rise as part of the informal sector. However, theseforms may lead to greater social inequality and increase the gap between therich and the poor, he said.

Doanh held that in order to develop the digital economy in a legalmanner, the State should build a suitable legal environment for different typesof economic forms.

GSO Deputy General Director Nguyen Thi Huong said that unobservedeconomic forms are mostly in the illegal, leftover activities ofdata-collection programmes.

She said that a project to build statistics on the informal economicsector is being built and will be submitted to the Prime Minister for approvalin December 2018.

Asserting that this is a difficult job, Huong called for support andcoordination from ministries, sectors, and localities, as well as economicexperts and researchers.–VNA