NEW YORK, March 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Rwanda took first place in the latest edition of the Reference profitability index (BPI), a unique measure of the attractiveness of countries for direct investment. The BPI is published annually by Dr. Daniel Altman, economist and author of the newsletter High Yield Economics.
India, Malaysia, BotswanaAnd Qatar completes the top five of the BPI – as in 2025 – and the United Arab Emirates entered the index in sixth place. The biggest winners were Nigeria (from 91st to 65th), Bulgaria (from 53rd to 36th), and Croatia (from 43 to 28). Those who lost the most ground were Senegal (from 30 to 72), Bangladesh (from the 42nd to the 70th), and Kenya (from 44th to 68th).
The BPI is a benchmark for foreign direct investment which takes into account the share of revenue likely to return to the investor’s country of origin. With a five-year time horizon, the BPI takes into account factors such as security, property rights, corruption and exchange rates for more than 100 countries. The BPI is the only index to combine these factors and reflect the overall attractiveness of a country for investment.
Top 20 countries by overall BPI score (rounded):
|
Rank |
Country |
IPB |
Rank |
Country |
IPB |
|
1 |
Rwanda |
1.27 |
11 |
Vietnam |
1.16 |
|
2 |
India |
1.26 |
12 |
Malta |
1.14 |
|
3 |
Malaysia |
1.24 |
13 |
Czechia |
1.14 |
|
4 |
Botswana |
1.22 |
14 |
Mauritius |
1.13 |
|
5 |
Qatar |
1.21 |
15 |
Lithuania |
1.13 |
|
6 |
United Arab Emirates |
1.21 |
16 |
Armenia |
1.12 |
|
7 |
Georgia |
1.19 |
17 |
Oman |
1.12 |
|
8 |
Singapore |
1.18 |
18 |
Korea |
1.12 |
|
9 |
Philippines |
1.18 |
19 |
Poland |
1.12 |
|
10 |
Indonesia |
1.17 |
20 |
New Zealand |
1.11 |
For a complete list, please visit the BPI website at baselineprofitabilityindex.com.
About Daniel Altman: Dr. Daniel Altman (PhD, Harvard) is an economist and best-selling author who has advised multinational corporations, investment firms, and government entities on four continents. His ideas are regularly presented in the media, notably The New York Times And CNN. Her High-yield economics the newsletter on LinkedIn has more than 3,700 subscribers. His personal website is danielaltman.com.
Note to editors: Daniel Altman is available for interviews in English and Spanish. Interactive charts and the full BPI dataset are available on the BPI website. For any inquiries please email info@baselineprofitabilityindex.com
SOURCE Benchmark profitability index
