Portugal on the Forbes"Best Countries for Business" list

Portugal is the 24th best country to do business, in a list headed by New Zealand.


Forbes published this week its "best countries for business" list. New Zealand leads this list, noting an improvement over last year's second place, replacing Canada, which fell to fifth place. The magazine explains that the improvement is related to "transparency and a stable business climate that encourage entrepreneurship."

The list is made up of 141 countries and takes 11 factors into consideration: property rights, innovation, taxes, technology, corruption, freedom (personal, trade and monetary), red tape, investor protection and stock market performance.

Denmark comes second on the list, followed by Hong Kong. Ireland is one of the highlights of the Top 10, coming in sixth place.

Portugal is, thus, the 24th best country for business, according to the criteria used by Forbes, on a list where France and Germany come in 20th and 21st places.

The USA have been dropping in this ranking. In 2009, they were the second best country and are currently in 12th place. Forbes indicates taxes on businesses as the main obstacle.