The Economic Freedom of the World Report 2011 released on Tuesday says Nepal´s rank slid to 129 out of 141 countries this year. With a score of 5.50 (out of 10), Nepal continued to be one of the least free countries in the world in case of economic freedom. [break]
The report notes that not just Nepal, but all the countries across the globe performed badly during the year, particularly as enforcement of stringent financial and other sector regulations in the wake of global financial crisis ate up freedom.
This year, the average global economic freedom score fell to 6.64, the lowest in nearly three decades, from 6.67 in 2008, reads a statement.
Interestingly, the report states that communist China has more economic freedom than democratic India. “It is for this reason that China is luring more foreign investments than India,” said senior economist Dr Bishwombhar Pyakuryal,
Among all 141 countries covered by the report, Hong Kong retained the highest rating for economic freedom, scoring 9.01 out of 10. Other top economically free countries include Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Chile, United Kingdom, Mauritius and the United States.
The Economic Freedom of the World Report uses 42 different measures and rank economic freedom under five broader indicators like size of government, legal structure and security of property rights, access to sound money, freedom to trade internationally and regulation of credit, labor and business.
Sadly, Nepal´s scores on all those indicators fell down this year, with score remaining the least on indicator related to legal structures and security of property rights.
The report shows that individuals living in countries with high levels of economic freedom enjoy higher level of prosperity, greater individual freedoms and longer life spans.
“There is a clear linkage between economic freedom and prosperity. Unfortunately, our political leaders, who never get tired of promising prosperity to public, are pushing for weaker provisions on articles related to economic freedom like protection of property rights in the new constitution,” said Dr Bhimarjun Acharya, a constitution expert.
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