Poland best country in Europe to expand a business

Easyjet to start flights to Sofia

Tokyo condo prices finally start to soar

Australians warned another interest rate rise possible

Poland best country in Europe to expand a business

New research by the Federation of European Employers (FedEE) has concluded that Poland is the best country in Europe to expand a business in 2007. FedEE's top five rated countries for 2007 are Poland, Denmark, Slovenia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

The federation says that when a company is considering whether to invest in another country, there are numerous pitfalls to be avoided, with the biggest headache being staffing. There are particular concerns about the availability of skilled workers, pay and potential difficulties with employee dismissal. Many employers end up relying on subjective assessments or data that is often inaccurate and seriously out of date.

FedEE’s country ratings provide an objective evaluation of investment risk from a human resource perspective. The ratings cover 27 EU countries, plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey, and are based on 15 quantifiable factors relating to: Labour supply, human capital, employee relations, inflationary pressures, labour costs and flexibility.

Poland scores positively on labour supply, labour relations and labour flexibility and its only negative score is in its level of internet skills. Each of the other top-rated countries share high scores on labour capability, although three ( Denmark, Switzerland and the UK) suffer from labour supply problems and two ( Denmark and Switzerland) from high wage costs.

Surprisingly, these findings are not reflected in actual levels of foreign direct investment - which raises the question whether companies are making the best decisions when they choose a European location. The latest UN figures show that none of the FedEE top five countries received the highest levels of inward investment as a percentage of GDP, with companies instead choosing Belgium, Estonia, Ireland, Malta and the Netherlands as bases for their operations.

Easyjet to start flights to Sofia

Budget airline Easyjet has announced that a new direct route from London to Sofia will be introduced this year. Direct flights from London Gatwick to Bulgaria’s capital will run three times weekly and commence on the 6 th November 2007.

The London–Sofia route is already served by four airlines, including Bulgaria Air, BH Air and British Airways (BA) from Gatwick, and Eastern European budget carrier Wizzair from Luton. BA also operates flights to Sofia from Heathrow.

Meanwhile, Bulgaria Air has started new flights from Dublin to the Black Sea area running twice a week. Varna airport is expected to welcome over 50% more flights this year with new airlines arriving from the likes of France, Italy, Spain and even Iceland.

Tokyo condo prices finally start to soar

According to data released by the Real Estate Economic Institute, Tokyo’s average condominium prices have surged by nearly 6m Yen this year to 53.05m Yen (£224,000) in July, a rise of around 11%.

A string of properties being sold for over 100m Yen (£422,000) have sent prices rocketing to the highest level since November 1992 when they subsequently averaged 57m Yen (£240,500).

The amount of new condos sold slipped by 10% to 6,409 units. However, 288 of these carried price tags exceeding 100m Yen. Most of these luxury properties are located in the heart of the capital and have pushed up prices in central Tokyo by nearly 9m yen to 71m Yen (£300,000), an increase of 12.7%.

However, some areas are far more expensive and properties sold in the Shibuya area are reported to have fetched more than 300m Yen on average (£1.27m). According to Nomura Real Estate Development, all 306 of the 100m Yen-plus condos in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward area were bought on the day they came to market. But in Saitama and Kanagawa prefectures, only 64% of properties found buyers, falling below the 70% benchmark that indicates a strong market in the city.

Australians warned another interest rate rise possible

The latest monetary policy report from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has warned Australians not to rule out the possibility of another interest rate rise.

The outlook in the latest quarterly report is reported to be even bleaker than the previous one. Back in May, the RBA predicted that underlying inflation would fall below 2.5% this year before rising to around 2.75% in 2008 and 2009.

But since then, underlying inflation has risen to 2.75% and the RBA expects it to hit 3% by the end of this year and stay there until to June 2008. Even taking into account the restraining effect of the rate hike last week, (base rates rose by 0.25% to 6.5%), inflation is still forecast to stay in the upper half of the RBA´s 2-3% target band until at least
mid-2009.

For those already feeling the pinch of mortgage stress, another rate rise will see stretching the budget just a little more difficult. The interest rate rise of 0.25% last week, saw the average standard variable rate with the big four banks rise to 8.32%, which on the average mortgage size of A$270,000, reflects a monthly interest only payment of A$1,872.