Drugs money to form part of GDP

Payments to prostitutes and the money made from drug deals are to be included in the official record of the wealth generated by the country each year.

The move follows on from Britain and Italy adding illegal activity to their national figures for economic activity.

The CSO confirmed that the gross domestic product figures it will release at the end of June will be higher as a result of the inclusion of what the EU describes as “production forbidden by law, eg, prostitution and production of drugs”.