Word: euros
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Calculating the full cost of tax evasion in Greece is nearly impossible. The Greek government estimates the shadow, or untaxed economy, is about 30% of the declared economy, among the largest black markets in the 16-member euro zone...
Here Come the PIGS Greece faces an immediate crisis. but there are fears that other weak euro-zone countries could follow. Portugal, Italy and Spain also have large untaxed economies and, like Greece, face huge budget deficits that have raised concerns...
...lowest in the European Union, 19.8% of GDP (excluding social security) compared to an E.U. average of 26.1%. (Italy's take is 29.1%, Portugal's 24.5%, Spain's 20.7%). Only a handful of E.U. countries - the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania - do worse. And none of them use the euro. (Read: "Is the Euro the New Dollar...
Shortly after Papandreou took office in October, his socialist government revealed that Greece's finances were in far worse shape than the previous government had let on. The 2009 deficit was nearly 13% of GDP, more than four times the euro zone's 3% limit. The European Commission blasted Greece for the faulty stats, and ratings agencies downgraded Greek debt, sending yields on government bonds skyrocketing. Over the past two months, as fears have grown that Greece's poisonous finances could infect the rest of Europe, the euro has slipped by almost 7% against the dollar. The Greek crisis...
...clean up its mess without any assistance. In mid-January the Papandreou government, which has to raise $75 billion to close its gaping fiscal shortfall, announced an ambitious three-year austerity plan to reduce the deficit to 2% of output by 2013. "Greece is playing by the euro zone's rules and it will put its house in order," Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou tells TIME. "To borrow words from an ad: Watch this space...