Countries that have proven to be much more attractive for investors are Bulgaria (44), Azerbaijan (38) and Botswana (45). Although it dropped ten places, Romania is still ahead of several countries, such as Spain (62), Luxembourg (64), Poland (72), and the Czech Republic (74). Singapore remains the easiest country in which to do business, while the last country on the list remains Central African Republic. The ease for doing business in a country was analyzed on the basis of ten criteria, of which the most important are starting a business, receiving building permits, hiring workers, registering properties, obtaining credits, investor protection, payment of taxes, and foreign trade.
A small or medium-sized company in Romania must make 113 payments every year for taxes which it owes to the state, while a Swedish companies makes only two tax payments. Paying taxes in Romania takes 202 hours, or 8 working days, compared to 59 hours a year in Luxembourg. In Romania, total taxes amount to 44.6 percent of profit compared to 20.9 percent in Luxembourg, or 68.4 percent in Italy.
