Barriers and Opportunities for Enhancing Capital Flows
In the COMCEC Member Countries
107
8. Degree to which state control and ownership of
enterprises distorts the business environment
 Very low  Low  Moderate  High 
Very high
9. Degree of protection of minority shareholders' rights
 Very high  High  Moderate  Low 
Very low
Consider legislation, corporate governance rules and
commitments, publicised cases of the abuse of minority
shareholders' rights
1. Government policy towards foreign capital
 Very encouraging: investment encouraged, almost no
restrictions on activity
 Encouraging: restrictions on investment in certain
areas such as natural resources and utilities
 Fairly encouraging: some restrictions in addition to
utilities
 Restrictive: extensive restrictions, investments
examined on a case-by- case basis
 Very restrictive: investment banned or heavily
discouraged
Consider: restrictions on fields of activity and
ownership shares, whether effective treatment is fair and
equitable, the ease and speed of registration procedures.
2. Openness of national culture towards foreign influence
 Very open  Open  Fairly open  Fairly closed
 Closed
3. Risk of expropriation of foreign assets
 Non-existent  Very low  Low  Moderate
 High
Consider: outright nationalisation or creeping
expropriation in which progressive restrictions or local
ownership requirements strip foreign investor of control.
4. Availability of investment protection schemes
 Very good  Good  Fair  Poor  Very poor
Consider: the extent of country coverage of investment
protection schemes.
V Policy and attitudes towards
foreign investment