with lower rates applied to certain products and services.
Te business climate is almost identical to that of Switzerland with easy incorporation rules attracting many holding companies to set up offices there.
Although Liechtenstein is known as a financial hub the largest contributor to the economy is manufacturing. Today around 4,700 companies, many global players, are based in Liechtenstein and last year the companies were responsible for $3.78bn in exports.
Meanwhile the country offers the same number of jobs as citizens meaning companies are heavily reliant on foreign employees. With around 37,000 jobs in the country, half are performed by the local working population whilst some 19,000 workers commute into the territory from Switzerland, Austria and Germany. Unemployment rate is typically low usually at 2.4 per cent.
Industry and manufacturing makes up around 43 per cent of the economy and includes high quality goods and services such as machine and plant construction, precision tools, dental instruments and the food industry. It employs around 40 per cent of the workforce.
Te finance sector is not far behind. Liechtenstein’s first bank was founded in 1861 and today the sector employs around 16 per cent
P44 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA
of the workforce and makes up around 23 per cent of the economy. Financial service providers based in Liechtenstein can supply services in all EU and EEA countries and today is committed to the OECD standards on transparency and information exchange.
Since 2008 Liechtenstein has faced pressure from the US and Germany in particular to provide more transparency with its banking and
tax systems and after signing several agreements has removed itself from the ‘grey list’ of countries yet to implement such procedures. In 2011 it joined the Schengen area permitting easy travel across 26 countries in Europe and in 2015 the country and the EU agreed to clamp down on tax fraud and evasion with an exchange of information from 2018. It is closely linked to Switzerland having also shared its currency since the Customs Treaty was
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