The World Economic Forum published the new Global Competitiveness Report. Romania is up four positions against last year, from 68 to 64. The report is based on last year's statistics and the statements given by managers in each considered country for another survey carried out in the beginning of the current year. Read here where Romania scored worst.

#5 Rigidity on the labour market - rank 122 out of 133

This indicator represents a mean of three other indicators, namely the difficulty the companies face when hiring, the work schedule rigidity and the easiness with which companies sack staff. A high rigidity means that employers think twice before they hire any staff.

#4 The tax influence on the business environment - rank 122 out of 133

In other words, the tax level in Romania has an extremely negative impact on businesses. But it can get worse if we look at Denmark, Belgium and Hungary that are closer to the end of the list than Romania. Germany and Japan are not far, either.

According to tax level, Romania took the 84th position with 48%. Bulgaria ranks 43 with 34.9%.

#3 The cost of agricultural policies - 126 out of 133

Romania finds itself immediately after Burundi, with a very high cost of agrarian policies. In other words, the Governments spend a lot and collects little, despite Romania's huge agricultural potential. Japan ranks worse than Romania, but it is to be expected, since Japan has got everything but agricultural potential.

#2 Governmental decisions transparency -128 of 133

In this matter, the situation is genuinely dramatic, for Romania fights to not rank last with countries like Ciad, Burundi, Bolivia and Venezuela.

Regarding the honesty at the basis of the authorities' decisions, we rank 117. This means that authorities take decisions that favour various interest groups. From the point of view of the public funds spending efficiency, Romania is placed on the 112th position, i.e. the Government is making very bad use of public money. Regarding the population's trust in the political class, Romania ranks 106, meaning a very low level of trust.

#1 And the worst indicator for Romania goes to... The infrastructure quality - rank 129 of 133

So, who's got worse roads than Romania's? Paraguay, East Timor, Bosnia and Mongolia. That's it. The bad roads' quality in Romania has already become legendary.

Conclusions

Despite having gone up four position in the report's general ranking, Romania remains the same backward country when it comes to infrastructure, corruption and the political class quality, but with the same immense potential when it comes to agriculture, education of business development.