Israel Ranked 32nd Riskiest Country To Do Business In

Despite the incessant media reports of terrorism and threats of war in Israel, the country’s risk rating for business investments is not No. 1, but No. 32, according to Globes on Thursday.

In a survey of the riskiest places in the world to do business, which includes 43 emerging markets, Zurich Insurance Group ranked not Israel but Venezuela as the most dangerous.

Taiwan, it said, is the safest.

The insurance group categorized Israel as an emerging market and ranked it 32.

Zurich Insurance, founded in 1872, has a special research department for business risks. The company has 55,000 employees, and serves private clients and small businesses in more than 170 countries.

The rankings are based on 35 criteria that address financial, economic, and political risks. In the financial category, the criteria include credit risks and interest, the banking sector, and currency exchange. Economic risks include macro-economic criteria, quarterly and budgetary risks, trade balance and exposure to foreign creditors.

Political criteria include, among other things, corruption measures, political violence, expropriation of property, regulation, and legal system strength.

Most African countries were not included in the study, for lack of information.

The emerging countries in order of most to least dangerous, are: Venezuela, Nigeria, Egypt, Pakistan, Argentina, Ukraine, Ecuador, India, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Russia, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Indonesia, Turkey, Morocco, Brazil, Philippines, Vietnam, Colombia, Kazakhstan, Croatia, Mexico, Thailand, Peru, Romania, Chile, Saudi Arabia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Uruguay, Israel, Slovakia, Malaysia, Slovenia, Latvia, South Korea, Czech Republic, Lithuania.