UK “Best Country for Business in 2018 – Forbes Annual rankings
An annual ranking has declared the UK to be the Best Country for business next year, according to Forbes, who said, “The UK had risen in its rankings from fifth last year to first”. The UK was inside the top 25 nations in each of the metrics it judged, except political risk, as it judged 153 countries on 15 factors, including property rights, innovation, taxes and red tape.
The UK also scored 4th on technological readiness and the size and education of its workforce (Third).
The report revealed the current dominance of the UK’s financial services sector and investment by top US technology firms, including Apple, as a major positive for the country.
Suren Thiru, head of economics and business finance at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: “ The UK’s top ranking as the best country for doing business is a testament to the hard work and resilience of business communities across the UK, and it remains a great place to start and establish a business with low barriers to entry and a good reputation for business-friendly regulation and enforcement. Firms should repay that backing with investment, hiring, training and export growth.”
Despite UK narrowly voting last year to leave the EU, even with the pound plummeting 9 per cent versus the dollar the day after the surprise result and remains down, the economy as a whole has held up pretty well as gross domestic product grew 1.8 per cent in 2016, behind only Germany’s 1.9 per cent and unemployment has sunk to a 42-year low at 4.3 per cent.
Wells Fargo spent $400 million to buy a new European headquarters in London’s financial district and Apple announced plans to open a new London campus in 2021 that covers over 46, 452 m² (500, 000 Square feet) of space. Facebook also is looking for 65, 000 m² office space to accommodate it’s 9, 000 employees. UK’s £1.95 Trillion ( $2.6 Trillion) economy is the fifth largest in the world. London is the financial hub for European financial services including international banks like HSBC, Prudential, and Barclays. After Brexit London may lose 10, 000 banking jobs.