By Andrew Walker
Indonesia was one of many developing economies that came out as pro-entrepreneur
Indonesia is the best place for entrepreneurs to start a business, a BBC survey has suggested.
The US, Canada, India and Australia are seen as among the next best countries at supporting new businesses.
At the other extreme, Colombia, Egypt, Turkey, Italy and Russia are among the least entrepreneur-friendly.
The survey for the BBC’s Extreme World series found wide variations in perceptions of the support different cultures offer to start-ups.
The results come from a survey of more than 24,000 people across 24 countries.
They were asked whether innovation was highly valued in their country; whether it was hard for people like them to start a business; whether people who do were highly valued; and whether people with good ideas could usually put them into practice.
Taking all the answers together as a single index, Indonesia came out as the most favourable place for entrepreneurs.
Also near the top were the US, Canada and Australia.
All the developed economies surveyed were above the average score, with the exception of Italy, which was far below.
But there were also plenty of developing economies that came out as pro-entrepreneur – India, China and Nigeria were also perceived by their own people as relatively favourable places for new businesses.
In terms of regions, the four countries of East Asia and the Pacific surveyed all received high scores. All the three countries in Sub-Saharan Africa also scored above average.
But other regions were more varied. In Latin America, Mexico and Peru scored relatively highly, but Brazil and Columbia were well below average.
Entrepreneurship-friendly culture
Index derived from the mean scores (on a scale from 1 to 4) of four questions:
valuation of creativity/innovation in own countrydifficulty to start own business in countryvaluation of people who start own businessease of putting ideas into practice
In Western Europe, low scores in Italy and Spain were balanced by perceptions of a more favourable environment for entrepreneurs in Germany, France and the UK.
The poll does not provide evidence on why people took the views they did, and in some respects the results are consistent with widely-held perceptions of the country concerned.
For example, the US has a particularly pro-private sector culture and a smaller state sector than many western European countries. It is seen as a good place for entrepreneurs.
Russia, which received a low score in this poll, is seen internationally as a place where the state is too prone to intervene in economic life.
But there are some surprises. Labour laws in France are relatively tough, yet in this poll the country was seen as a good place for a new business.
Nigeria’s problem with corruption did not stop it doing better than most countries in this survey.
The poll was undertaken for the BBC World Service by the international survey firm Globescan together with the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The EU and UN have frozen assets of the Libyan leader Col Gaddafi and members of his family
Some of the biggest and best-known financial institutions in the world held billions of dollars of Libyan state funds, a leaked report has revealed.
Principal among them were HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Nomura and Societe General, Global Witness said.
The banks refused to say whether they held, or are still holding, the funds.
All the assets have now been frozen by the European Union and United Nations.
The document, dated June 2010, showed that HSBC held $292.7m (£179.9m) in 10 cash accounts, with a similar amount invested in a hedge fund, while Goldman Sachs had $43m in three accounts.
Almost $4bn was held in investment funds and structured products, with Societe General alone holding $1bn.
“All the banks refused to make any public comment on the funds they received and managed on behalf of the Libyan Investment Authority, citing client confidentiality”
Peston: Where Libya invests $53bn
Japanese bank Nomura and Bank of New York also held $500m each.
A much larger proportion of Libyan Investment Authority’s assets – $19bn in total – were held by Libyan and Middle Eastern Banks, the document revealed.
It also showed that the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) holds billions of dollars in shares in global corporations such as General Electric, BP, Vivendi and Deutsche Telekom.
It had already been widely reported that the fund held stakes in UK publishing group Pearson, Italy’s Unicredit bank and industrial group Finmeccanica, as well as Canadian oil exploration group Verenex.
“It is completely absurd that HSBC and Goldman Sachs can hide behind customer confidentiality in a case like this,” said Charmain Gooch, director of campaigning group Global Witness.
“These are state accounts, so the customer is effectively the Libyan people and these banks are withholding vital information from them.”
Established in 2006, the LIA holds about $70bn of assets and is the 13th largest sovereign wealth fund in the world, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute.
The fund, built on Libya’s oil wealth, scores two out of 10 on the institute’s transparency ranking.
Earlier this month, the EU extended its economic sanctions against Libya to include the LIA and the country’s central bank.
It had already frozen assets of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and some members of his family.
It did not initially target the LIA as there was some debate about whether its assets belonged to the Gaddafi family or the Libyan people, analysts said.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
David Cameron: “The president and I agree we should be turning up the heat on Libya”
US President Barack Obama has said there will be “no let up” in the pressure against Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi.
Speaking at a news conference with UK Prime Minister David Cameron, the US leader said that Col Gaddafi would ultimately be forced from power.
At least five explosions hit Tripoli overnight on Tuesday as Nato continued its campaign against the Libyan leader.
Russia has condemned the raids as a “gross violation” of a UN resolution.
Moscow, which did not vote for military action, said the strategy was not helping to bring about the “overall goal of quickly ending the armed conflict”.
“Gaddafi and his regime need to understand there will be no let-up in the pressure we are applying”
President Barack Obama
Mr Obama, who is on a state visit to the UK, said he could not predict when Col Gaddafi would go, but that the US and its allies would “sustain the course” against him.
“I absolutely agree that given the progress that has been made over the last several weeks that Gaddafi and his regime need to understand that there will not be a let-up in the pressure that we are applying,” he said.
But he warned against setting any timetable for action and cautioned against the prospect of any decisive change in the military situation on the ground.
“I believe that we have built enough momentum that, as long as we sustain the course we are on, he (Gaddafi) will step down. Ultimately this is going to be a slow, steady process in which we are able to wear down the regime forces.”
Mr Cameron added that there was no future for the country – which has seen two months of intense fighting between pro and anti-government forces – with Col Gaddafi in power, and he should step down.
“The president and I agree we should be turning up the heat in Libya,” he said, adding that “all options” for intensifying the pressure on the regime were being considered.
Large plumes of smoke could be seen over the capital following Tuesday’s strikes
Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim reacted angrily to Mr Obama’s comments, saying that “Gaddafi’s destiny, Gaddafi’s future, is for the Libyan nation to decide”, according to AP news agency.
“It would be a much more productive statement to say that the Libyan people need to engage in an inclusive peaceful democratic transparent political process in which they can chose the shape of their political system and the leaders of their system,” he said.
Air strikes late on Tuesday targeted the area around Col Gaddafi’s Bab al-Aziziya compound in a second night, after similar strikes on Monday night.
Nato says the compound has been used by the regime as a base for troops and vehicles used to carry out attacks on civilians.
But Libyan authorities say Nato is trying to kill Col Gaddafi and that the night-time strikes are terrorising Tripoli residents.
“Gaddafi’s destiny, Gaddafi’s future, is for the Libyan nation to decide”
Moussa Ibrahim Libyan government spokesperson
The Russian foreign ministry’s human rights envoy, Konstantin Dolgov, said targets which had no military use had been destroyed and that the strategy was “in no way moving us closer toward achieving the overall goal of quickly ending the armed conflict”.
He added: “Air strikes are not stopping the military confrontation between the Libyan parties and only creating more suffering among peaceful civilians.”
Russia has been been attempting to broker a ceasefire between the government and the rebels, and has met representatives of both sides in the past week.
South African President Jacob Zuma is to visit Libya next week for meetings with Col Gaddafi in an attempt to resolve the conflict.
Mr Zuma’s office have dismissed speculation that meeting was intended to discuss an exit strategy for the leader.
A spokesman said the talks were a follow-up to an African Union summit on the crisis in April which collapsed when rebels insisted Col Gaddafi must stand down.
The BBC’s Karen Allen in Johannesburg says relations between the two countries have soured since Libya was accused last week of concealing the death of a prominent South African journalist who had been covering the crisis.
The rebellion against Col Gaddafi’s rule began in February, spurred on by uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt that saw the presidents of those countries overthrown.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
