Portugal's advantages attract new investors

<h3 class&equals;"chapo-article">After years of reform, the country is asserting itself as a safe and competitive destination&amp;period; The country is attracting an increasing number of French companies&amp;period; In a wide range of sectors&amp;comma; looking to relocate their activities close to the Hexagon&amp;period;<&sol;h3>&amp;NewLine;<p>Investing in Portugal &amp;quest; And why not&amp;period; The small country is well placed to attract French investors&amp;comma; at a time when it is finally emerging from a long economic crisis that has accelerated the reorganization and modernization of its administration&amp;period; Today, the signs are&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;positive today&amp;comma; with the public deficit down to 2 &amp;percnt; in 2016 and growth forecasts revised upwards to 1&amp;comma;8 &amp;percnt; for this year&amp;comma; while unemployment continues to fall&amp;comma; to less than 10 &amp;percnt;&amp;period; Here's how consumption is rebounding&amp;comma; despite the skepticism of the <a class&equals;"lien&lowbar;externe" title&equals;"définition de marché financier" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;lesechos&period;fr&sol;finance-marches&sol;vernimmen&sol;definition&lowbar;marche-de-capitaux&period;html&num;xtor&equals;sec-3168" rel&equals;"lien&lowbar;auto">financial markets<&sol;a>The country is one of the most popular destinations for European visitors&amp;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<h3 class&equals;"intertitre">Drastic reforms<&sol;h3>&amp;NewLine;<p>The country has turned things around with a series of drastic reforms&amp;comma; starting with the&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;easing of the Labor Code&amp;comma; which has led to lower wage costs&amp;comma; accompanied by&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;a reduction in corporate income tax from 21% today, which has encouraged investment, and facilitated the creation of new businesses by opening up new markets;a 24-hour company formation channel, and rolled out a range of measures to reduce social security charges on first-time employment contracts for people under 30, and on the hiring of people looking for work;8217&amp;semi;employment for more than twelve months&amp;period; Tax benefits are also geared towards highly qualified professionals&amp;comma; with the introduction of&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;an income tax ceiling frozen at 20 &amp;percnt;&amp;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p>All these efforts have led to a return to competitiveness&amp;period; Portugal is currently in 25th place.<sup>e<&sol;sup> position &amp;lpar;out of 190&amp;rpar; in the 2017 Doing Business ranking&amp;comma; ahead of France&amp;comma; Italy or Spain&amp;comma; in particular&amp;comma; stresses the Portuguese foreign trade promotion agency &amp;lpar;Aicep&amp;rpar;&amp;period; The country is a natural bridge to the 200 million consumers of Portuguese-speaking markets&amp;comma; starting with Brazil&amp;period; But it is also a particularly attractive neighbor for its European neighbors &amp;colon; legally secure&amp;comma; politically stable&amp;comma; with a good infrastructure&amp;comma; while offering a welcoming environment and a good quality of life&amp;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p>This context is all the more favorable for French companies as they already have a strong presence in Lisbon, with more than 600 subsidiaries in the country&amp;period; They benefit from favorable salary scales&amp;comma; with the SMIC at 557 euros &amp;lpar;over 14 months&amp;rpar;&amp;comma; but not only&amp;comma; points out Laurent Marionnet&amp;comma; director of the Luso-French Chamber of Commerce in Lisbon&amp;colon; <em>"The country is a good test market for innovative companies, which find a customer base that is very open to new things&amp;period;"<&sol;em><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<h3 class&equals;"intertitre">Skilled workforce<&sol;h3>&amp;NewLine;<p>More and more companies are also choosing to relocate parts of their activities or services to Portugal&amp;comma; he notes&amp;period; <em>"This movement accelerated from 2011&amp;comma; when some companies started choosing to relocate to Europe instead of North Africa&amp;period;"<&sol;em> They find in Portugal a highly qualified workforce&amp;comma; a solid university system and good language skills&amp;comma; in English as well as in French&amp;comma; which facilitates in particular the relocation of call centers&amp;semi;For example, Altran has set up its IT services between Porto and Lisbon&amp;comma; BNP Paribas has seconded part of its human resources&amp;comma; Renault and PSA have recently increased their local investments&amp;period;<&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p>While local authorities have little room for maneuver when it comes to offering tax breaks to companies setting up shop&amp;period; they have&amp;comma; on the other hand&amp;comma; multiplied initiatives to attract businesses&amp;comma; underlines Laurent Marionnet &amp;colon; <em>"It is common for municipalities to join forces to set up promotion agencies, make land or premises available in incubators, and organize support to facilitate administrative procedures.<&sol;em><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;lesechos&period;fr&sol;thema&sol;0212030941838-les-atouts-du-portugal-seduisent-de-nouveaux-investisseurs-2085201&period;php&num;zjk77loiw3b0a2yo&period;99">Source <&sol;a><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;