Croatia has moved up ten spots in the Economic Freedom World Rankings Index for 2011, but its result is still below the European average, with three areas that continue to be described as repressive - property rights, freedom from corruption and labour freedom, the U.S. Heritage Foundation said on Wednesday.
According to the economic freedom index, which is jointly published by this conservative foundation and The Wall Street Journal and carried for Southeast Europe by the Adriatic Institute for Public Policy, Croatia has jumped from 92nd to 82nd place in the global rankings, and from 37th to 35th place in the European rankings.
The survey on economic freedoms, carried out in 179 countries, is based on economic trends in the period since the second half of 2009. The rankings are topped by Hong Kong with 89.7 points, and North Korea is at the bottom with one point. With a score of 61.1 points, Croatia is in the group of "moderately free" economies.
In considering index ratings for 2011, one should take into account the fact that the governments of many developed countries have responded to the economic crisis by directly interfering in their economies and by increasing government spending, which has restricted economic freedoms, the Institute's director, Natasa Srdoc, said in a comment on the rankings.
Croatia has improved its overall score by 1.9 points, and the categories which received better grades are business freedom, fiscal freedom, government spending, monetary freedom, investment freedom and labour freedom.
The areas in which the situation has deteriorated are trade freedom and freedom from corruption. Three index categories continue to be considered repressive - property rights, freedom from corruption and labour freedom.
In the category 'trade freedom', Croatia is 12th in the global rankings, which is its best individual ranking despite the fact that its score dropped 0.2 points from the previous year. It is also ranked relatively high, 38th, in the categories 'investment freedom' and 'financial freedom'.
Its scores are the poorest in the category 'labour freedom' and it is ranked 149th in that category which assesses the flexibility of labour legislation. Nevertheless, its score in this category improved 3.3 points from the previous survey.
The top ten countries in the rankings are, aside from Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Canada, Ireland, Denmark, the United States and Bahrain.
Croatia continues to be among the lower ranked European countries, with Montenegro, Albania, Slovenia, Romania, Macedonia and Hungary having better scores. Italy, Greece, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina are ranked below Croatia.
The Heritage Foundation is an independent research and education institution close to the Republicans and its mission is to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense.
