Moldova gets on top of economic freedom by Fraser Institute

Chisinau, 16 September /MOLDPRES/ – Moldova have got up four positions in the economic freedom ranking, according to Fraser Institute of Canada, ranking 99th in the world, against the 103rd position in 2015.

With 6.72 points of ten possible ones, Moldova has improved its results, compared to previous year, when it accumulated 6.63 points, and is ahead in the ranking to: Russian Federation, Serbia, Ukraine and others, and stood after Slovenia and Suriname , according to the study, "Economic Freedom of the World: 2016 Annual Report." The report was conducted by Fraser Institute experts, who took into account data available for 2014. As a matter of fact, they use to update data and, therefore, according to the recent report, released on 15 September, Moldova’s score for last year is revised to 6.64 and is on the 100th position on top.

Among the top 30 countries with the freest economies, there are Georgia (5th position), Lithuania (15th), Armenia (18th), Estonia (19th) and Romania (22th). Ukraine is placed to the bottom of the top (position 135). Hong Kong, Singapore and New Zealand, followed by Switzerland and Canada, got the highest results in the Fraser top, just as in 2015. 

The Fraser Institute’s report examines the degree to which the policies and institutions of countries support economic freedom through 42 indicators grouped in five major areas: size of government intervention in the economy (measured as the level of government spending, the taxes and tariffs, public enterprises), legal system structure and property rights 'protection, monetary stability, freedom of international trade regulations on bank lending, labour and business. A score closer to 10 indicates a higher level of economic freedom.

Moldova gained a score of 9.7 points (19th in the world) in bank lending. The country got the lowest points, respectively 5.5 and 5.9, in terms of regulation of labour market and business. As to these areas, Moldova ranked 115th and 130th, respectively. Protecting property rights continues to be a weak aspect of the Moldovan economy, foreign experts say.

Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public organization of research and education with a global network of 86 branches.

(Reporter V. Bercu, editor M. Jantovan)