Lithuania has moved up 6 positions from 21st to 15th, and now ranks well above the European and global average, in the Index of Economic Freedom. The index, which is produced by American think-tank the Heritage Foundation in conjunction with The Wall Street Journal, measures economic freedom according to a range of criteria, including ‘business freedom’ and ‘investment freedom’.
In the latest ranking, Lithuania scored 74.7 out of 100, placing it 15th out of the 178 countries analysed compared to 21st in 2014. Lithuania’s overall score is 1.7 points higher than last year, thanks to progress in key indicators such as freedom from corruption, government spending, labour freedom and monetary freedom.
Hong Kong topped the ranking with an overall score of 89.6, ahead of Singapore (89.4) and New Zealand (82.1). Countries such as Germany, Sweden and Finland are all ranked lower than Lithuania.
“The good news is that, compared to the rest of the world, according to the Index, Lithuania is a dynamic and open economy. Small or non-existent duties and an open financial market help us in trading with the rest of the world. The creators of the index believe that investors are attracted through effective business regulation and relatively low market entry barriers”, noted Vytautas Žukauskas, a senior expert at the Lithuanian Free Market Institute.
Read the original article in Lithuanian at VZ.lt
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