Nigeria amongst Forbes worst country for business in 2019

Nigeria in the bottom among Forbes’ best country for business in the world in 2019, ranking 110^th out of 161 graded countries.

Top on the list are United Kingdom (1), Sweden (2), Hong Kong (3), Netherlands (4), New Zealand (5) and Canada (6).

The United States of America is rated 17th, below Ireland and Finland.

South Africa, according to the list released by Forbes, came first in Africa.

With a population of 203 million people, a GDP growth of 0.8 per cent and GDP per capital of $2,000, Nigeria is ranked 14th in Africa.

The rating puts Nigeria behind South Africa (59), Morocco (62), Seychelles (66), Tunisia (82), Botswana (83), Rwanda (90), Kenya (93), Ghana (94), Egypt (95), Namibia (96), Senegal (100), Zambia (103) and Cape Verde (104).

Giving the criteria for the rating, Forbes said, “We gauged the Best Countries for Business by rating nations on 15 different factors, including property rights, innovation, taxes, technology, corruption, freedom (personal, trade and monetary), red tape and investor protection. Other metrics included were workforce, infrastructure, market size, quality of life and risk. Each category was equally weighted.

“The data is based on published reports from Freedom House, Heritage Foundation, Property Rights Alliance, United Nations, Transparency International, World Bank Group, Marsh & McLennan and World Economic Forum.”

Nigeria rated 115 out of 153 assessed countries the previous year, with a GDP growth of -1.6 per cent and GDP per capital given as $2,200.

The country was 15th in Africa during the period.