Portugal has leapt up the worldwide competitiveness ranking published by the World Forum for Competitiveness.
Portugal now is in 36th place, compared with the last year’s position of 51.
The reversal of the downward trend seen during the austerity years, in fact Portugal has been slipping since 2005, is due to the "ambitious reform agenda" that seems to have "started giving good results," according to the Forum commentary.
The World Forum for Competitiveness wants also to see some continuity in the implementation of the necessary reforms in Portugal and points out the usual problem areas for those doing business in the country.
The top three are, as ever:
The inefficiency generated by bureaucracy in public administration. This is an area that the government has failed to address with public service unions running rings around the executive in areas such as the 40 hour working week, reduced unilaterally to 35 in councils across the country using a skilfully inserted loophole.
The current attempt to introduce a streamlining of the courts system is another case in point where despite good intentions the project has fallen at the first hurdle.
Secondly, the overall level of taxation is a disincentive for people to work in Portugal but reductions in the corporate tax rate have been welcomed by business leaders.
Third is access to finance which is as much a problem in Portugal as in many other European countries as banks shore up their balance sheets by raising the qualifying criteria for loans to a high level.
Switzerland as ever is in first place in the rankings.
The report's comment on Europe:
"In Europe, several countries that were severely hit by the economic crisis, such as Spain (35th), Portugal (36th) and Greece (81st), have made significant strides to improve the functioning of their markets and the allocation of productive resources. At the same time, some countries that continue to face major competitiveness challenges, such as France (23rd) and Italy (49th), appear not to have fully engaged in this process. While the divide between a highly competitive North and a lagging South and East persists, a new outlook on the European competitiveness divide between countries implementing reforms and those that are not can now also be observed."
See: http://reports.weforum.org/global-competitiveness-report-2014-2015/
