Belgium’s business climate ranks 42nd in the world

Belgium comes in 42nd place in an international ranking on global business climates, according to The World Bank Group’s annual report published on Wednesday. Singapore maintains its position at the top of the world’s most business-friendly economies.

The financial institution’s "Doing Business” report 2015 lists 189 economies around the world by ease of doing business, taking into account quantitative indicators on 11 areas of business regulation. The authors of the report investigated the extent to which governments have managed to create rules and regulations that facilitate interactions in the marketplace.

Singapore tops the list since 2007, followed by New Zealand, Hong Kong, Denmark and South Korea. Belgium falls two places since last year and arrives at position 42, just before South Africa and after Chile. “Half of the 20 countries in the world where it is easiest to do business are European,” notes euobserver.com.

Belgium shows room to improve in the transfer of ownership, the connection procedure for electricity and access to credit. Most of Belgium’s neighbouring countries score considerably better, including Germany (14), the Netherlands (27) and France (31).

photo: coworkingbrussels.com