01/10/2005 11:42:41 am
Is the Map Or Reality Correct? EUObserver calculated from the UNCTAD World Investment Report referred to below that foreign investments in the new EU members states rose by 70 per cent from the year before. Read more here. And "Old Europe" as a whole experienced a decrease.

The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise has analysed the figures for Sweden more in detail. They find that in 183 of the world?s countries, there was more inflow of investments than outflow. Sweden, though, belongs to the gruop of 12 countries where the outflow was greater than the inflow. Read more here. Foreign investors are simply taking their money out of Sweden.

It is striking that these facts came at the same time as the Global Competitiveness Index from World Economic Forum. Obviously, the countries that they consider the most competitive in the world don?t attract the most investments. Reality shoiws another picture than the theoretical index. This indicates, again, that categories like taxes and labour market regulations - where the Nordic countries score very badly - are given far too little importance in the index.