Barriers and Opportunities for Enhancing Capital Flows
In the COMCEC Member Countries
98
Business rankings questionnaire
This questionnaire is composed of quantitative and
qualitative indicators. The purely quantitative indicators are
denoted by a single asterisk (*). Indicators with a double
asterisk (**) are partly based on data. All other indicators
are based on qualitative assessment.
Ia. Political stability
1. What is the risk of armed conflict (civil or external) during
the forecast period?
 Very low  Low  Moderate  High 
Very high
2. What is the risk of significant social unrest during the
forecast period?
 Very low  Low  Moderate  High 
Very high
Consider: large-scale demonstrations and inter-ethnic,
racial or religious clashes; levels and direction of change of
income inequality and unemployment; opposition to the
IMF; serious labour disputes.
3. How clear, established and accepted are constitutional
mechanisms for the orderly transfer of power from one
government to another?
 Very clear, established and accepted
 Clear, established and accepted
 One of the three criteria is absent
 Two of the three criteria are absent
 Not clear, not established, not accepted
To distinguish between 4 and 5, score 5 if mechanisms
in place prior to 1970, 4 otherwise.
4. Assess the impact on business of the relations between
the government and opposition
 Relations are smooth and present little risk to
business
 Relations can be fraught, with some moderate risk to
policy predictability
 Fraught relations and risks to political stability and
policy predictability
I Political environment