Business / Economy
UK regulation more onerous than Zimbabwe’s, says WEF
16 Feb 2011 at 04:45hrs | Views
British regulation is more burdensome than Zimbabwe's, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has found in its Global Competitiveness Report 2010-2011.
In the WEF's overall statistics, Britain ranks 12th out of the world's 139 nations as a competitive centre for business, one up on 2009-2010 and the same as in 2008-2009.
It ranks even lower for "soundness of banks", where it placed 133rd
However, it ranks 89th in terms of avoiding "burdensome government regulation", behind Zimbabwe in 80th, and 72nd for "wastefulness of government spending".
It ranks even lower for "soundness of banks", where it placed 133rd in the report. It ranked 117th for its government budget balance, 107th for its national savings rate and 108th for its government debt.
Terry Smith, the founder of Fundsmith, who has highlighted some of the findings, says the government needs to remove more barriers to business or face worsening Britain's economic difficulties. (article continues below)
However, strict regulation has in some cases improved Britain's image as a safer, more stable place to invest.
The government has been pressured in particular into regulating the financial sector more heavily since the onset of the credit crunch.
Britain also scored highly in the WEF report in terms of its market size, its business sophistication, its innovation and the state of its higher education system.
In the WEF's overall statistics, Britain ranks 12th out of the world's 139 nations as a competitive centre for business, one up on 2009-2010 and the same as in 2008-2009.
It ranks even lower for "soundness of banks", where it placed 133rd
However, it ranks 89th in terms of avoiding "burdensome government regulation", behind Zimbabwe in 80th, and 72nd for "wastefulness of government spending".
It ranks even lower for "soundness of banks", where it placed 133rd in the report. It ranked 117th for its government budget balance, 107th for its national savings rate and 108th for its government debt.
Terry Smith, the founder of Fundsmith, who has highlighted some of the findings, says the government needs to remove more barriers to business or face worsening Britain's economic difficulties. (article continues below)
However, strict regulation has in some cases improved Britain's image as a safer, more stable place to invest.
The government has been pressured in particular into regulating the financial sector more heavily since the onset of the credit crunch.
Britain also scored highly in the WEF report in terms of its market size, its business sophistication, its innovation and the state of its higher education system.
Source - FundStrategy
