´Economic Freedom of the World Report 2013´ released by Sambriddhi, The Prosperity Foundation, in the capital on Wednesday stated that Nepal slid to the 125th position out of 152 countries studied this year. Last year, Nepal had stood at the 110th rank among 114 countries. [break]
Nepal scored 6.19 this year in term of economic freedom, down from 6.33 in 2012. Economic freedom is measured on the basis of five indicators: the government´s role in economic activities, access to sound money, freedom to international trade and regulations to govern credit, labor and business, and legal structure, including property rights.
On the government´s role, Nepal´s score has declined from 8.34 to 7.6 over the year. Though the access to sound money has increased slightly to 6.3 from 6.26, the freedom to international trade has decreased to 6.4 score this year, down from 6.74 last year.Commenting on the declining role of the government in economic activities, former secretary Bhola Nath Chalise said the limited role of government in economy is necessary for better economic freedom.
The indices pertaining to regulation of credit as well as labour and business have also slightly increased to 6.5 score from 6.47 recorded last year. Similarly, Nepal has also scored better on legal structures and property rights, as the index has gone up from 3.85 to 4.2.
Chiranjibi Nepal, chief economic advisor for the Ministry of Finance, said that though the score in legal structure and security of property rights has slightly increased, Nepal still needs to strengthen the concept of decentralization in supporting economic activities.
Economist Biswamber Pyakurel said that the monetary policy has failed to introduce measures to control financial crimes.
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