Macedonia's ranking by Forbes at the 37. spot reconfirms the country's regional leadership with regards to doing business conditions, Vice Premier and Finance Minister Zoran Stavreski told reporters on Friday.

"Forbes makes the ranking according to 11 indicators, and it is good for Macedonia that international rating agencies and respectable institutions are gradually seeing Macedonia as a regional leader from the aspect of conditions of importance for companies", said Stavreski after the Global Education Conference.

According to him, this represents another significant signal for investors.

"They follow indicators coming from Forbes, Doing Business and other renowned magazines or institutions, thus facilitating their decision to invest in the Republic of Macedonia", stressed Stavreski.

U.S. business magazine "Forbes" has released the latest list of best countries for business. New Zealand tops the list, followed by Denmark and Hong Kong. In regional terms, Slovenia is 23., followed by Macedonia, Montenegro (45), Croatia (47) and B&H (85).

The list has been compiled on the basis of 11 different factors: property rights, innovation, taxes, technology, corruption, freedom (personal, trade and monetary), red tape, investor protection and stock market performance.

Forbes leaned on research and published reports from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Freedom House, Heritage Foundation, Property Rights Alliance, Transparency International, World Bank and World Economic Forum.