KIEV, Aug. 14 - The level of the shadow economy in Ukraine in the first quarter of 2015 increased by 5 percentage points compared to the corresponding period in 2014, to 47% of official GDP, the Economic Development and Trade Ministry reported on its website.

"The loss of economic entities' trust in the improvement of the economic and political situation in the near future forced them to actively use schemes for concealing income, including such as expansion of losses and non-payments," the report said.