2011-03-29

The US Department of State have recently made an assessment of the Investment Climate of Sweden. In brief, it is a very positive summary. Recommended for everyone with an interest of doing business in Sweden.

It is the Bureau of Economic, Energy and Business Affairs that have published a statement on the Swedish investment climate. Here are some highlights:

• Sweden offers an extremely competitive, largely corruption-free economy with access to new products and technologies, skills and innovations. As the largest market in the Baltic Sea region, it is an attractive location and gateway to Northern Europe/the Baltic Sea region.
• Sweden’s taxation structure is straightforward and corporate tax levels are low. Sweden has a corporate tax of 26.3 percent in nominal terms. The effective rate can be even lower as companies have the option of making deductible annual appropriations to a tax allocation reserve of up to 25 percent of their pretax profit for the year.
• Sweden's labor force of 4.6 million is disciplined, well-educated, and experienced in all modern technologies. About 71 percent of the workforce belongs to labor unions. Swedish unions have helped to implement business rationalization, and strongly favor employee education and technical progress. Management labor cooperation is generally excellent and non confrontational.
  

More information

The report can be found at the website of the US Dept. of State:

http://www.state.gov/e/eeb/rls/othr/ics/2011/157364.htm