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Investments Romania, 14th most attractive country for business relocation
 Romania's position close to Western Europe has helped it become one of the world's most attractive destinations for business relocation. Bucharest, Romania – According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Romania was the 14th most preffered country in the world for foreign companies looking to relocate their activities. This confirms Romania's growing attractiveness for foreign investment. The study examined the conditions in sixty countries, and took into account nine categories of indices: geographical proximity, political and security risks, economic stability, legislation, taxation, labour costs and skills level, and infrastructure. The scores given to the countries ranged from 1 to 10, 10 being the highest. The final composite score was calculated as a weighted average of the scores of the nine indicators. Some indicators, such as labour costs, had more weight than others.
Romania's final score was 7.08 points, edged out in Europe by only Bulgaria (7.08 points), Slovakia (7.12 points) and Czechia (7.26 points). Romania's strengths lay in the workforce cost category, where it received a score of 9.49, and in the geographical proximity chapter, where is received 8.35 points. It also scored well in the categories of economic stability and political and security risks, with 7.2 points each. The country's weaknesses were mainly in the infrastrucutre chapter, where it received just 4.6 points. Romania is further expected to improve its score in the coming years, as the effects of its new 16% flat tax rate on personal income and corporate profit come into effect, and as the country joins the European Union in 2007. The worldwide leader in attractiveness for business relocation was India, with 7.76 points, due mainly to very low labour costs, high skill levels and a stable legal system. India edged out China by a considerable margin, with China being ranked second, with 7.34 points. China lags behind India mainly due to its lack of a well-developed legislative system. Surprisingly, wealthy countries such as Japan, Norway and Denmark ranked very low, mainly due to their very high cost of labour.
Foreign investment rises in Romania by 19 percent
Romania, especially its capital Bucharest, attracted significantly more foreign investment in 2005. Romania's level of foreign direct investment rose by 19% in the first six months (January-July) of 2005 when compared to the same period of 2004, according to the Romanian Agency for Foreign Investment (ARIS). The country recorded US$750 million of foreign investment in this period, and 56 total investment projects, in comparison to 40 projects between January and July 2004. The majority of the investments occured in the Bucharest-Ilfov region, which includes the Romanian capital. The rise in foreign investment is mainly attributed due to a more liberal taxation policy introduced by the Romanian government on January 1, 2005, which centres around a 16% flat tax on personal income and corporate profit. Additionally, the country's expected membership of the European Union in 2007 and its relatively stable political climate also led to an increase in foreign investment in 2005.
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