'attractive' turkey is one of the best

A new survey has highlighted the continuing popularity of Turkey as an investment destination…

Turkey came in at second place in the Ernst & Young Southeast Europe Attractiveness Survey 2008, with 50% of respondents praising the country.

Fifty-two percent (52%) of the respondents considered Romania as an attractive country to do business in, compared with 50% for Turkey, 40% for Bulgaria, 31% for Greece, 28% for Croatia, 19% for Serbia, 10% for Bosnia & Herzegovina and 9% for Cyprus.

Almost two-thirds of the respondents (67%) said their perceptions of Southeast Europe investment environment has improved over the last three years, but we see a strong perception gap depending on investor’s experience in SEE - the resident investors having a better perception than potential investors.

High level of confidence

Camelia Horlaci, Country Managing Partner at Ernst & Young Romania: “The second edition of the survey reveals a strong improvement in investors’ perception over the last three years on the SEE region and a high level of confidence in the future driven by EU membership.

“Southeast Europe emerging markets continue to attract FDI because they offer investors attractive labor costs, flexibility of labor laws and an encouraging productivity increase.

“Forty-three percent (43%) of the respondents have expressed their intention to establish or develop activities in SEE and 50% of them have indicated Turkey as their first choice”.