Moldova ranks 110th - Index of Economic Freedom

Chisinau, 16 February /MOLDPRES/- Moldova was ranked 110th out of 180 countries in a ranking set up by the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal, according to the Index of Economic Freedom, which assesses the openness of national economies, referring to the report “2017 Index of Economic Freedom”.

Moldovan economy is regarded as “most unfree” and recorded a score of 58 points out of 100, by 0.6 points more than last year.

Moldova ranks 41st out of 44 states in Europe, and its overall score is below regional average (68 points) and global (60.9 points). Moldova ranks immediately after Slovenia, Serbia and Belarus, and outruns Russia, Greece and Ukraine in the European top. The report notes that the Moldovan economy has made “notable success in trade freedom, policies on taxes and fiscal policy”.

At the same time, experts point out that transition to a market economy remains fragile. The government’s commitment to improve business climate and promote economic freedom is not always firm. The public sector still plays a leading role in economy, and judicial system remains vulnerable to political interference and corruption, the report’s authors said.

Moldova recorded very low scores in the areas of “property rights”  (49.6 points), “judicial efficiency” (23.9 points) and “integrity of government” (28.6 points). The report reads that Moldova has laws protecting formally property rights, a system of registration of property titles, but the reform efforts are ineffective due to lack of funds, and a banking scandal “highlighted scale of corruption”.

On the other hand, Moldova was appreciated among countries as leading for indicators “burden of tax (86.1 points), “fiscal freedom” (90.6 points) and “free trade” (80 points), where the Moldovan economy is characterized as fully free.

Moldova had an impressive evolution in 2002-2004, when in 2002 moved up from 120th position to 105, respectively 92nd in 2003, and in 2004 it advanced by 13 positions. In 2005, Moldova was placed 77th and in 2006 – 83. Moldova has the lowest index of economic freedom in 1995, when the economy was regarded as one repressed.

Economic freedom is assessed in 10 areas, the points being awarded for the level of freedom of business, trade freedom, fiscal freedom, freedom from government intervention, monetary freedom, investment, financial, labor market, of property rights, absence of corruption. An economy is so free and state intervention lower, as the index is higher.

The first three places in the world ranking are Hong Kong, Singapore and New Zealand.

(Reporter V. Bercu, editor M. Jantovan)