Nepal climbs a notch up to rank 109th in ‘Economic Freedom of the World’

KATHMANDU, Sept 11: Nepal has ranked 109th out of 162 countries and territories in the ‘Economic Freedom of the World: 2020 Annual Report’. 

According to the report released Thursday by Samriddhi Foundation in conjunction with Canada’s Fraser Institute, Nepal climbed one notch up to the rank from last year’s ranking of 110th.

The ranking measures and ranks the economic freedom in five areas — size of government, legal structure and security of property rights, access to sound money, freedom to trade internationally and regulation of credit, labour and business.

According to the report that is based on the data of 2018, Nepal stood at 109th place in the global ranking with an overall score of 6.48. On a scale of 1 to 10, a higher value indicates a higher level of economic freedom, according to the report.  Nepal had scored 6.49 last year. 

With a score of 6.53, Nepal had ranked 102nd in 2018. 

Hong Kong and Singapore topped the index, continuing their streak as 1st and 2nd respectively. New Zealand, Switzerland, the United States, Australia, Mauritius, Georgia, Canada and Ireland were in the list of top 10 performers, according to the report. 

According to the area-wise ranking, the score on the size of government dropped to 6.92 from 7.2, putting Nepal at the 63rd position in the global ranking. The score on the legal system and property rights, however, went up to 4.64 from 4.6, placing Nepal at the 104th place in the global ranking. Nepal scored 6.89 in access to sound money and remained at the 137th place in the global ranking. In terms of freedom to trade internationally, Nepal’s score slid to 6.59 from 6.6 and stayed at 111th position. Nepal’s score on regulation of credit, labor and business climbed to 7.36 from 7.2 with the global ranking at 71st. 

Nepal’s immediate neighbor India ranked at the 105th position while China secured its place at the 124th place, according to the report.