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Switzerland cracks top ten list for business

Malcolm Curtis
Malcolm Curtis - [email protected]
Switzerland cracks top ten list for business
Zurich, Switzerland's biggest centre for business. Photo: Switzerland Tourism

Switzerland ranks among the top ten best countries in the world to do business, according to Forbes magazine’s list for 2014.

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The Swiss came ninth, up from 16th a year ago, with high scores for innovation (rated second in the world) and for monetary freedom (third best).

However, Switzerland’s reputation is dragged down by red tape for business, ranking 58th out of 146 countries assessed for this category.

Forbes ranks Denmark as the best place for business, followed by Hong Kong, New Zealand, Ireland, Sweden, Canada, Norway and Singapore.

Switzerland ranks just ahead of Finland in a list that puts four Scandinavian countries in the top ten.

While Denmark’s economy is weak compared to Switzerland’s, it scored highly across all the 11 categories weighed by Forbes for the ranking.

These include property rights, innovation, taxes, technology, corruption, freedom (personal, trade and monetary), red tape, investor protection and stock market performance.

One of the keys to Denmark’s positive business climate, according to the magazine, is an entrepreneurial environment and a flexible labour market that allows companies to easily fire and hire workers.

The US, despite a turnaround in its economy, ranked in18th place, down from 14th, dropping for the fifth consecutive year.

Expensive new regulations in finance and health care and loss of economic freedom are among the factors cited for the decline in America’s business climate.

For more details on the rankings, check here

See also: DENMARK RANKED WORLD'S BEST COUNTRY FOR BUSINESS

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