It takes four hours for a foreign or domestic investor to register a company, the tax rate is 10%, among the lowest in Europe. If you add Macedonia's educated workforce in the mix, it is no surprise that the country is becoming a hotbed for direct foreign investments - says Italian newspaper Libero in its editorial on Macedonia, calling the country the "Balkan's pearl".
Libero, to its Italian readers explains that if a company invests in an infrastructure and hires over 100 full time staff, the company is not obligated to pay utilities and has a tax reprieve upward to 500,000 euros.
"The clever plan to attract and keep foreign companies is devised perfectly by the Macedonian Government, in fact, Italian company Condotte has already announced a 15m euro investment" says Libero adding the country was ranked #22 out of 183 countries by "Doing Business Report 2012". In 2011 it was 34th.
-Interesting to note is the leap the country has made in only few years in the tourist sector. Low budget airlines continue to sign up and add fligts from and to Skopje and Ohrid. In 2012, the country registered 2 million night stays, which for the size of the country is very good - adds Libero.
-Their newly built airport has increased the capacity at least five fold, which means there will be larger flow of money, which means Macedonia can enter in direct competition with our(Italy's) neighbor, Austria.
Libero doesn't fail to mention the bizarre name dispute Greece has with Macedonia.
