Interfax: Russia rises 14 places in Forbes list of Best Countries for Business

MOSCOW. Dec 5 (Interfax) – Russia jumped 14 places in Forbes’ list of the Best Countries for Business in 2013, to 91st place between the Philippines and Paraguay. Forbes noted significant improvement in trade freedom (78th place) and innovation (74th) in Russia.

On the other hand, “Russia’s long-term challenges also include a shrinking workforce, rampant corruption, and underinvestment in infrastructure,” Forbes said. Ireland led the list this year.

Former number one New Zealand was in second place and Hong Kong was third. The U.S. slipped in the ranking for the fourth year in a row, dropping to 14th place from second in 2009 and 12th in 2012.

The rest of the top 10 was crowded with Northern European countries: Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway were 4th, 5th, 6th and 9th respectively. Singapore was 7th, Canada was 8th and Netherlands was 10th.

Forbes graded 145 countries on 11 metrics, including property rights, innovation, taxes, technology, corruption, freedom (personal, trade and monetary), red tape, investor protection and stock market performance. It used data in reports published by Freedom House, Heritage Foundation, Property Rights Alliance, Transparency International, World Bank and World Economic Forum.