Attractiveness Of Doing Business In Greece (rankings)

My last post discussed Greece's improvement over the last 10 years as regards perceived corruption (an improvement of about 30 spots in the ranking of about 180 countries). In that post I said:

"10 years ago when I had started this blog, one of my major arguments was as follows: Greece ranks the highest in the EU as regards perceived corruption and the lowest as regards attractiveness for doing business (which was the case then). If these tables could literally be turned (i. e. the lowest in perceived corruption and the highest in attractiveness for doing business), then Greece could well develop into the economic hotspot of the Eastern Mediterranean. How have these rankings developed?"

Below is the other important ranking, the World Bank's Doing Business Report for 2020. It measures about 190 countries in terms of their attractiveness for doing business. 

Here, too, Greece's ranking improved by roughly 30 spots. Depending on how one reads statistics, one could even argue by 40 spots. That would be the good news.

The not so good news is that Greece did not improve its position within the peer group (EU member countries). In fact, only the tiny Malta ranks behind Greece at position #84.

It is interesting to note that the significant improvement occurred during the years 2020-12, i. e. during the time when Greece was literally put through the wringer by its EU friends. 

Corruption Perception Index For Greece

Transparency International (TI) publishes annually the Corruption Perception Index where they measure roughly 180 countries in terms of perceived corruption. As the title says, it is based on perceptions and not on objective measurements because the latter would be impossible in the area of corruption.

10 years ago when I had started this blog, one of my major arguments was as follows: Greece ranks the highest in the EU as regards perceived corruption and the lowest as regards attractiveness for doing business (which was the case then). If these tables could literally be turned (i. e. the lowest in perceived corruption and the highest in attractiveness for doing business), then Greece could well develop into the economic hotspot of the Eastern Mediterranean. How have these rankings developed?

TI just published their 2020 Corruption Perception Index where Greece ranks #59. In and by itself, that ranking is not very meaningful but it does become meaningful when one analyzes a longer term trend and the comparison with peer countries (in the case of Greece the EU). Below are the rankings of the last 10 years:

There clearly has been a change in the last 10 years, a change for the better. If 10 years ago the ranking ranged between 85-95, in recent years it has ranged between 55-65. Roughly speaking, once can argue that Greece improved its ranking by about 30 points in the last decade.

When, 10 years ago, Greece ranked the highest among all EU countries as regards perceived corruption, Greece nowadays leaves several EU countries behind: Slovakia, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary and Bulgaria.

The often heard argument that "Greece will never change" seems a bit disproven by the above.