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New Jersey – The American business magazine, Forbes, has among 153 countries, ranked Liberia as the worst place for doing business in the world for 2018.
The Forbes’ ranking placing Liberia atop its list of worst places to do business this year, comes amid heightened tension over the reported disappearance of some 16 billion Liberina Dollar banknotes, which is approximately 4.75 percent of the country’s GDP.
Authorities continue to give contradictory accounts of the money, as many officials of government including President George Weah, within a short period of assuming power, live in opulence; either purchasing and/or constructing deluxe structures and riding luxurious vehicles, while civil society actors and rights activists mount pressure and stage street protests in demand for the ex-footballer turned politician administration to bring back the ‘missing money.’
The magazine based its latest ranking on 15 factors including corruption, political risk, property rights, innovation, taxes, workforce, technology, infrastructure, freedom (personal, trade and monetary), quality of life, red tape and investor protection.
On the Forbes list of the “Best And Worst Countries For Business 2018”, the United Kingdom was ranked as the best country for business in 2018.
In Africa, South Africa clinched the 48th and the best place on the index for best country to do business on the continental followed by Morocco on 55th position and Rwanda in a distant 79th position.
Africa’s populous nation, Nigeria, was ranked 115th, beaten by Benin Republic, Ghana, Kenya, Tunisia, Tanzania.
For the worst business destinations, Liberia sits atop the Forbes’ list, even though the war-battered and corruption prone nation’s GDP is by far smaller than all of the countries it leads this year as the world’s worst place to do business.
According to Forbes, Liberia, with a population of 4.7 million people, has a GDP of $2 billion, Tax Burden ranking of 62, Innovation ranking of 118, and Red Tape ranking of 49.
Liberia is followed on the Forbes list by Democratic Republic of Congo, in second place, followed by Mauritania, Togo and Zimbabwe, in third, fourth and fifth places respectively.
The rest are Burundi, 6th place; Guinea, 7th; Libya, 8th; Gambia , 9th; and Chad, with a GDP of $10 billion, sits in the 10th position.
