According to an Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) report, Greece, Qatar, and India have made the greatest improvements worldwide in the last year to offer the best environment for businesses.

India's young population, which indicates a high demand for and supply of skilled labour, helped it rank third among the most improved nations, according to the report.

According to the report, "India is the only single-country market that offers a potential scale comparable to that of China."

According to the EIU, India will see rapid economic growth between 2024 and 2028 and see an increase in foreign direct investments as businesses seek out alternative locations for their manufacturing operations in China.

In the business environment rankings (BER), Greece improved the most due to policy reforms by a pro-business government. Argentina’s free market programs under its new president Javier Milei have propelled its improvement in the list.

Global Players in the Market

Globally, Singapore, Denmark and the US were the top three places to do business, the report said.

The Southeast Asian country cemented its position as the best destination in the world with its strong political stability and focus on supporting domestic private companies to improve technologically.

Germany and Switzerland came fourth and fifth in the list, while Canada, Sweden, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Finland completed the top 10 in the world.

“These are all advanced economies and long-standing strong performers in our index, so tend to be safe bets for investments,” the report stated.

The EIU’s ranking assesses the attractiveness of the business environment across 82 countries and territories and is measured based on various factors such as inflation, cost of living, economic growth, and fiscal policies.

The VAR model measured two decades’ worth of data, successfully predicting which countries and territories were on the verge of notable economic growth, and which were, therefore, favourable destinations to direct future investment spending.

The proprietary business environment index not only includes quantitative forecasts such as growing market opportunities, but also incorporates hard-to-measure indicators with strong predictive power, such as likely upcoming policy changes, demand from key trading partners and changes in the institutional environment.

“Knowing in advance where economic growth is about to accelerate can make all the difference between investor success and failure. It is critical to understand how the world is changing, and our business environment index, based on historical conditions and expert analysis, is designed to effectively help global organisations formulate their business strategies for the next five years. One country we highlight in this report is Thailand, where pro-business policies–including investment incentives and upgraded infrastructure–prompted a recent improvement in our rankings, which prefigured a sharp acceleration in the growth of real GDP per head the following year. This is just one example of how our index is a great leading indicator for investment trends,” Prianthi Roy, Country Forecast Manager and Europe Analyst, EIU.

EIU’s business environment index measures the attractiveness of the business environment in 82 countries and territories, examining 91 indicators spread across 11 different categories.

Article Source - EIU