Romania has climbed to 28th place in a ranking of the 33 most attractive countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) for private companies, up from 32nd in the previous edition, according to the PwC EMEA Entrepreneurial & Private Business Heatmap.
The rankings are based on scores for 64 indicators in nine categories: macroeconomics, private business landscape, tax and regulatory regime, sustainability and climate, social responsibility and governance, public health, education/skills/talent, technology and infrastructure, and start-up ecosystem.
"The most important factors contributing to the attractiveness of new investments by private companies are a strong business environment, a vibrant start-up ecosystem that attracts capital, quality infrastructure (IT, internet, offices) and a supply of well-educated labour. Countries with these key attributes remain on the radar of private investors, regardless of short-term economic or social challenges. Romania has slightly improved its overall score from the previous edition, scoring best on tax and regulatory framework and macroeconomic indicators, but as the analysis shows, these have a relatively low impact on how companies assess and select a country as a destination for business development. Moreover, as the analysis was carried out at the end of last year, the tax indicator does not reflect the impact of the major changes that will apply from 2024, which will most likely be seen in the next edition," said Dinu Bumbăcea, Country Managing Partner PwC Romania.
According to the EMEA EPB Heatmap 2023, Romania ranks 7th in macroeconomics and 8th in tax and regulatory regime among the 33 countries analysed. In the remaining categories, Romania is at the bottom of the ranking, as follows: technology and infrastructure - 18th, social responsibility, and governance - 20th, sustainability and climate - 21st, education/skills and talent - 22nd, private business landscape - 24th, start-up ecosystem - 24th and public health - 33rd, the last place.
These positions place Romania in the fourth category of emerging markets, behind Greece and ahead of Bulgaria, Slovakia, and Croatia.
In the first category of attractiveness, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, the United Kingdom, Finland, Ireland, Spain, and France, and in the second category of advanced countries, Luxembourg, Austria, Belgium, Portugal, Italy and Estonia.
In the third category of the analysis, the developing countries are Poland, Lithuania, Cyprus, Malta, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, and Slovenia.
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