Author: United States United States Department of State
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781530702336
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 452
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Book Description
Part 1 includes the Investment Climate Statement 2015 for the following countries: Argentina, Armenia, Bahrain, Belgium, Bermuda, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brunei, Canada, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Finland, Georgia, Guatemala and Guyana.
Author: United States United States Department of State
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781530702848
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 446
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Book Description
Part 2 includes the Investment Climate Statement 2015 for the following countries: Indonesia, Kosovo, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malawi, Mexico, Mongolia, Oman, Poland, Republic of the Congo, Slovenia, Spain, The Netherlands, Venezuela, West Bank and Gaza.
Author: World Bank World Bank
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464806292
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 253
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Book Description
Private firms are at the forefront of the development process, providing more than 90 percent of jobs, supplying goods and services, and representing a significant source of tax revenues. Their ability to grow, create jobs, and reduce poverty depends critically on a well-functioning investment climate--defined as the policy, legal, and institutional arrangements underpinning the functioning of markets and the level of transaction costs and risks associated with starting, operating, and closing a business. The World Bank Group has provided extensive support to investment climate reforms. This evaluation by the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) assesses the relevance, effectiveness, and social value of World Bank Group support to investment climate reforms as it relates to concerns for inclusion and shared prosperity. IEG finds that the World Bank Group has supported a comprehensive menu of investment climate reforms and has improved investment climate in countries, as measured by number of laws enacted, streamlining of processes and time, or simple cost savings for private firms. However, the impact on investment, jobs, business formation, and growth is not straightforward. Regulatory reforms need to be designed and implemented with both economic and social costs and benefits in mind; IEG found that, in practice, World Bank Group support focuses predominantly on reducing costs to businesses. In supporting investment climate reforms, the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation use two distinct but complementary business models. Despite the fact that investment climate is the most integrated business unit in the World Bank Group, coordination is mostly informal, relying mainly on personal contacts. IEG recommends that the World Bank Group expand its range of diagnostic tools and integrate them in the areas of the business environment not yet covered by existing tools; develop an approach to identify the social effects of regulatory reforms on all groups expected to be affected by them beyond the business community; and exploit synergies by ensuring that World Bank and IFC staff improve their understanding of each other's work and business models.
Author: United States United States Department of State
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781514388907
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 28
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Book Description
Spain is open and seeking to attract additional foreign investment, particularly to help spur recovery from its recent economic crisis. Spain's well-educated work force, excellent infrastructure, large domestic market, and export possibilities have attracted foreign companies in large numbers over the past three decades. Spanish law permits foreign ownership in investments up to 100 percent, and capital movements are completely liberalized. In 2014, gross new foreign direct investment reached EUR 17.626 billion, with the six main investors in Spain being the United States, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, France, Mexico, and the Netherlands. This investment focused particularly on activities related to real estate, finance and insurance, manufacturing and sales.Spain emerged from its recession in the third quarter of 2013. Even with a high unemployment rate - 23.7 percent as of the first quarter of 2015 - and significant household and public indebtedness, the economy continued to recover in 2014 and has benefited from a resurgence in domestic consumption. The government attributes this turn-around in part to the economic reforms it implemented beginning in 2012, the largest in the country's democratic history, which streamlined budgets and loosened labor laws to make hiring and firing easier. As part of this effort, the government sharply curbed public spending, which helped stabilize the fiscal situation. Major economic imbalances have been corrected, and competitiveness and flexibility are being restored.The government also implemented a series of labor market reforms and the restructuring of the banking system, all measures aimed at improving the efficiency in the allocation of resources, the full effects of which were visible by the end of 2014. To avoid the fragmentation of the domestic market emerging from differences of central, regional and local regulation, the 2013 Market Unity Guarantee Act was adopted. The law aims to rationalize the regulatory framework for economic activities, eliminating duplicative administrative controls by implementing a single license system that facilitates the free flow of goods and services throughout Spain. Spain has regained access to affordable financing from international financial markets, which has improved Spain's credibility and solvency, in turn generating more investor confidence. However, the Spanish government has yet to improve access to financing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which still suffer from an important credit crunch.In implementing its fiscal consolidation program, the government has taken actions which negatively affect U.S. and other investors in the renewable energy sector on a retroactive basis. As a result, Spain is facing several international arbitration claims. Spain is a member of both the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID Convention) and the 1958 Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (New York Convention). Spanish law protects property rights and those of intellectual property. The government has amended the Intellectual Property Act, the Civil Procedure Law, and the Penal Code to strengthen online protection. Still, internet piracy has continued to increase over the past several years.Spain and the United States have a Friendship, Navigation and Commerce (FCN) Treaty, and a Bilateral Taxation Treaty (1990), which was subsequently amended in 2013 and went into force in December of 2014.
Author: United States United States Department of State
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781514388440
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 24
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Book Description
While Indonesia's population of 245 million, growing middle class, and stable economy remain attractive to U.S. investors, investing in Indonesia remains challenging. This report focuses on challenges foreign investors face rather than the range of investment opportunities. Since October 2014, the Indonesian government under President Joko Widodo has prioritized boosting investment, including foreign investment, to support Indonesia's economic growth goals, and has committed to reducing bureaucratic barriers to investment, including announcing the creation of a "one stop shop" for permits and licenses at the Investment Coordination Board. However, factors such as a decentralized decision-making process, legal uncertainty, economic nationalism, and powerful domestic vested interests create a complex and difficult investment climate. The Indonesian government's requirements, both formal and informal, to partner with Indonesian companies and purchase goods and services locally, restrictions on some imports and exports, and pressure to make substantial, long-term investment commitments, also factor into foreign investors' plans. While the Indonesian Corruption Eradication Commission continues to investigate and prosecute high-profile corruption cases, a recent case involving the National Police has led some to question the Commission's future influence. Investors continue to cite corruption as an obstacle to pursuing opportunities in Indonesia. Other barriers include poor government coordination, the slow rate of land acquisition for infrastructure projects, poor enforcement of contracts, an uncertain regulatory environment, and lack of transparency in the development of laws and regulations. New regulations are at times difficult to decipher and often lack sufficient notice and socialization for those impacted. The lack of coordination among ministries creates redundant and slow processes, such as for securing business licenses and import permits, and at times, conflicting regulations. Indonesia restricts foreign investment in some sectors with a negative investment list. The latest version, issued in 2014, details the sectors in which foreign investment is restricted and outlines the foreign equity limits in a number of sectors. Some of the restricted sectors include: telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, e-commerce, film and creative industries, and construction. Of note, the energy and mining sector face significant investment barriers. Indonesia began to abrogate its more than 60 existing Bilateral Investment Treaty agreements (BITs) in February 2014, allowing the agreements to expire as soon as they allow. While the United States does not have a BIT with Indonesia, the Indonesian government's action reminds foreign investors of the unpredictability of Indonesia's investment climate. Despite these challenges, Indonesia continues to attract foreign investment. Private consumption is the backbone of the economy and the middle class is growing, making Indonesia a promising place for consumer product companies. Indonesia has ambitious plans to improve its infrastructure with a focus on strengthening its maritime transport corridors, which includes building roads, ports, railways and airports, as well as improving agricultural production, telecommunications, and broadband networks throughout the country. Indonesia continues to attract U.S. franchises and consumer product manufacturers. For many companies, Indonesia's investment grade rating, growing middle class, and young population make the country an attractive destination for long term investment.
Author: United States United States Department of State
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781532788345
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 28
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Book Description
Italy welcomes foreign direct investment (FDI). As a European Union (EU) member state, Italy is bound by the membership's treaties and laws. Under the EU treaties with the United States, Italy is generally obliged to provide national treatment to U.S. investors established in Italy or in another EU member state. Exceptions include access to government subsidies for the film industry; capital requirements for banks domiciled in non-EU member countries; and restrictions on non-EU-based airlines operating domestic routes. Italy also has investment restrictions in the shipping sector. EU and Italian antitrust laws provide local authorities with the right to review mergers and acquisitions over a certain financial threshold. The Italian government may block mergers involving foreign firms if it is determined to be essential to the national economy or if the government of the foreign firm applies discriminatory measures against Italian firms. Foreign investors in the defense or aircraft manufacturing sectors are more likely to encounter resistance from the many ministries charged with approving foreign acquisitions. Finmeccanica, a state-controlled defense conglomerate, operates domestically in these sectors.
Author: United States United States Department of State
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781530701001
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 24
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Book Description
The Republic of Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. Kosovo's neighbor to the north, Serbia does not recognize it as a sovereign state, but has begun to normalize relations in accordance with the Brussels Agreement of April 2013. With a population of 1.8 million and land area 6,765 square miles, landlocked Kosovo is considered Europe's poorest country, yet it does have some mineral and coal deposits. Kosovo's official unemployment rate is 30.9 percent, although some estimates are as high as 45 percent. In an effort to foster economic development, the Government of Kosovo (GoK) has implemented reforms to improve the investment climate, prompting improved rankings in the World Bank's Doing Business reports from 81 (2014) to 75 (2015). Kosovo is continuing efforts to transform its socialist legacy to a market-oriented economy, and the GoK is working to strengthen the legal environment necessary to attract and retain foreign investment. Corruption, practiced and perceived, and a lack of contract enforcement create high barriers to foreign investment. According to the World Bank, Kosovo's economy is characterized by: limited integration into the global economy; the success of its Diaspora in foreign labor markets, resulting in a steady stream of remittances; pro-growth budgetary priorities; and continued international financial support. Vocal political opposition to the government's privatization policies, corruption, political or self-interested interference by government officials, disagreements over asset ownership between Kosovo and Serbia, and unreliable energy supply increase the risk and cost of investments in Kosovo. Despite these challenges, Kosovo's relatively young population, low labor costs, and abundant natural resources have attracted foreign investment, with several international firms and franchises already present in the market. There are opportunities for U.S. businesses to invest, especially in the food, IT, infrastructure, and energy sectors. The newly-elected government is seeking to further improve the business climate through the adoption of a multi-year development program focused on providing incentives for economic growth. These include amendments to tax and foreign investment legislation. The banking sector in Kosovo is stable and liquid, but high interest rates stifle commercial endeavors, prompting the government to enter into credit-guarantee arrangements with international donors to improve access to credit for businesses.
Author: United States United States Department of State
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781514388457
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 24
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Book Description
The Republic of Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. Kosovo's neighbor to the north, Serbia does not recognize it as a sovereign state, but has begun to normalize relations in accordance with the Brussels Agreement of April 2013. With a population of 1.8 million and land area 6,765 square miles, landlocked Kosovo is considered Europe's poorest country, yet it does have some mineral and coal deposits. Kosovo's official unemployment rate is 30.9 percent, although some estimates are as high as 45 percent. In an effort to foster economic development, the Government of Kosovo (GoK) has implemented reforms to improve the investment climate, prompting improved rankings in the World Bank's Doing Business reports from 81 (2014) to 75 (2015). Kosovo is continuing efforts to transform its socialist legacy to a market-oriented economy, and the GoK is working to strengthen the legal environment necessary to attract and retain foreign investment. Corruption, practiced and perceived, and a lack of contract enforcement create high barriers to foreign investment. According to the World Bank, Kosovo's economy is characterized by: limited integration into the global economy; the success of its Diaspora in foreign labor markets, resulting in a steady stream of remittances; pro-growth budgetary priorities; and continued international financial support. Vocal political opposition to the government's privatization policies, corruption, political or self-interested interference by government officials, disagreements over asset ownership between Kosovo and Serbia, and unreliable energy supply increase the risk and cost of investments in Kosovo. Despite these challenges, Kosovo's relatively young population, low labor costs, and abundant natural resources have attracted foreign investment, with several international firms and franchises already present in the market. There are opportunities for U.S. businesses to invest, especially in the food, IT, infrastructure, and energy sectors. The newly-elected government is seeking to further improve the business climate through the adoption of a multi-year development program focused on providing incentives for economic growth. These include amendments to tax and foreign investment legislation. The banking sector in Kosovo is stable and liquid, but high interest rates stifle commercial endeavors, prompting the government to enter into credit-guarantee arrangements with international donors to improve access to credit for businesses.
Author: United States United States Department of State
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781530701063
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 24
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Book Description
While Indonesia's population of 245 million, growing middle class, and stable economy remain attractive to U.S. investors, investing in Indonesia remains challenging. This report focuses on challenges foreign investors face rather than the range of investment opportunities. Since October 2014, the Indonesian government under President Joko Widodo has prioritized boosting investment, including foreign investment, to support Indonesia's economic growth goals, and has committed to reducing bureaucratic barriers to investment, including announcing the creation of a "one stop shop" for permits and licenses at the Investment Coordination Board. However, factors such as a decentralized decision-making process, legal uncertainty, economic nationalism, and powerful domestic vested interests create a complex and difficult investment climate. The Indonesian government's requirements, both formal and informal, to partner with Indonesian companies and purchase goods and services locally, restrictions on some imports and exports, and pressure to make substantial, long-term investment commitments, also factor into foreign investors' plans. While the Indonesian Corruption Eradication Commission continues to investigate and prosecute high-profile corruption cases, a recent case involving the National Police has led some to question the Commission's future influence. Investors continue to cite corruption as an obstacle to pursuing opportunities in Indonesia. Other barriers include poor government coordination, the slow rate of land acquisition for infrastructure projects, poor enforcement of contracts, an uncertain regulatory environment, and lack of transparency in the development of laws and regulations. New regulations are at times difficult to decipher and often lack sufficient notice and socialization for those impacted. The lack of coordination among ministries creates redundant and slow processes, such as for securing business licenses and import permits, and at times, conflicting regulations. Indonesia restricts foreign investment in some sectors with a negative investment list. The latest version, issued in 2014, details the sectors in which foreign investment is restricted and outlines the foreign equity limits in a number of sectors. Some of the restricted sectors include: telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, e-commerce, film and creative industries, and construction. Of note, the energy and mining sector face significant investment barriers. Indonesia began to abrogate its more than 60 existing Bilateral Investment Treaty agreements (BITs) in February 2014, allowing the agreements to expire as soon as they allow. While the United States does not have a BIT with Indonesia, the Indonesian government's action reminds foreign investors of the unpredictability of Indonesia's investment climate. Despite these challenges, Indonesia continues to attract foreign investment. Private consumption is the backbone of the economy and the middle class is growing, making Indonesia a promising place for consumer product companies. Indonesia has ambitious plans to improve its infrastructure with a focus on strengthening its maritime transport corridors, which includes building roads, ports, railways and airports, as well as improving agricultural production, telecommunications, and broadband networks throughout the country. Indonesia continues to attract U.S. franchises and consumer product manufacturers. For many companies, Indonesia's investment grade rating, growing middle class, and young population make the country an attractive destination for long term investment.
Author: United States United States Department of State
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781514387795
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 24
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Book Description
Costa Rica is located in Central America. Costa Rica's investment climate has been for many years generally favorable. Consequently, foreign direct investment is high and has been a significant contributor to Costa Rica's economic growth. The country's legal and cultural environment continues to present stumbling blocks to investors. Nevertheless, challenges to the country's competitiveness, including rising operating costs, a complicated legal environment, excessive bureaucratic red tape, and infrastructure deficiencies, are fueling caution on the part of investors. Costa Rica's continued popularity as an investment destination is well illustrated by historic FDI which climbed steadily from the year 2000 (USD 409 million) to 2008 (over USD 2 billion), and reaching a high of over USD 2.6 billion (5.4 percent of GDP) in 2013 before dropping back to USD 2.1 billion in recently released figures for 2014. In recent decades the Costa Rican government has focused on attracting relatively high-tech manufacturers and service companies that demand skilled labor, introduce new technologies and often run robust Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs. The vast majority of these companies establish themselves in Free Trade Zones that enjoy certain fiscal benefits. Consistent with this orientation, the Costa Rican government was aggressive in signing free-trade agreements, tax information agreements and generally participating in the global arena under former President Laura Chinchilla. The current Solis administration, which took office on May 8, 2014, has been aggressive in seeking FDI inflows and has prioritized foreign visits to potential investors in Asia, Europe and the Americas. Despite years of trade liberalization, the Costa Rican economy is not as advanced as this export-led development might suggest. The legal system, while solid and generally uncorrupt, can be very slow and often disappointing. Invasion and occupation of private property by squatters, who are often organized and sometimes violent, does occur in Costa Rica. The Costa Rican police and judicial system have at times failed to deter or to peacefully resolve such invasions. Much of Costa Rica's basic infrastructure - ports, roads, water systems - needs major upgrading. In a significant step forward for port infrastructure, Dutch-based APM Terminals broke ground in early 2015 on its long-delayed USD 1 Billion megaport on the Caribbean coast. Private-public partnerships as well as concessions continue to face numerous legal and procedural challenges that have delayed, or in some cases, canceled key infrastructure projects. Even China, which has sought to invest in two major infrastructure upgrades, has seen these projects stalled by bureaucratic and legal concerns.
