YEREVAN, DECEMBER 18, ARMENPRESS. Armenia occupies the 56th position in the Forbes’ Best Countries for Business 2014 ranking, thus leaving behind Azerbaijan, Russia, and a row of other post-Soviet countries. Russia is 91st, Azerbaijan is 60th, Georgia is 47th, and Turkey is 50th.

Among other things, it was particularly stated: “Armenia joined the WTO in January 2003. The government made some improvements in tax and customs administration in recent years, but anti-corruption measures have been ineffective and the economic downturn has led to a sharp drop in tax revenue and forced the government to accept large loan packages from Russia, the IMF, and other international financial institutions. Amendments to tax legislation, including the introduction of the first ever "luxury tax" in 2011, aim to increase the ratio of budget revenues to GDP, which still remains at low levels. Armenia will need to pursue additional economic reforms and to strengthen the rule of law in order to regain economic growth and improve economic competitiveness and employment opportunities, especially given its economic isolation from two of its nearest neighbors, Turkey and Azerbaijan.”

The best country for business this year is Denmark. The top10 includes also Hong Kong, New Zealand, Ireland, Sweden, Canada, Norway, Singapore and Switzerland.

The U.S. is the world’s undisputed economic superpower with a GDP of $16.7 trillion last year, nearly a quarter of the global total. It is the financial capital of the world and has largely recovered from the Great Recession. The economy recently posted its best six-month performance in more than a decade and unemployment stands at 5.9%, down from its 2009 peak of 10%.

Yet for all of its financial might, the U.S. lags behind many other developed nations when it comes to its business climate, and the gap is growing. The U.S. ranks 18th in Forbes’ ninth annual ranking of the Best Countries for Business, down four spots from last year. It marks the fifth straight year of declines since 2009, when the U.S. ranked second.

Blame an expanded government, as well as expensive new regulations in finance and health care. The U.S. is the only country to record a loss of economic freedom seven straight years in the Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom. More than 130 major new federal regulations on starting a business have been added since 2009 at an annual cost of $60 billion, according to the Heritage Foundation. The U.S. ranks 81st out of 146 countries for monetary freedom, according to Heritage, with only the U.K. and Turkey faring worse among OECD nations.

The U.S. also gets knocked for its corporate tax climate, which ranks 43rd (out of 146 we ranked countries) in the World Bank’s Doing Business report. The statutory corporate rates in the U.S. are the highest in the world among developed countries and the complexity of the code keeps an army of accountants busy. Companies get a break on their taxes thanks to numerous deductions, but the reality of having the highest published rates in the world makes for bad PR.

The best country for business this year is Denmark, which ranked No. 1 three straight years between 2008 and 2010. Denmark’s economy has struggled in recent years along with the rest of the European Union. Last week Denmark’s government cut its growth forecasts for this year and next, as the $324 billion economy struggles to recover from the collapse of the housing bubble, as well as a weak export market. “Denmark relies on the core of Europe for their export demand and they are struggling to fill that void right now,” says John Weis, an economist at Moody’s Analytics with an expertise on the Danish economy.