With a score of 59.1 points out of 100 possible, the Republic of Moldova ranks 97th of 180 countries included in the Index of Economic Freedom produced by the Heritage Foundation of the U.S. and The Wall Street Journal. The index measures the impact of liberty and free markets, IPN reports.
Moldova rose by 0.7 percentage points on last year, but remains in the category of countries with mostly unfree economies.
“Our country has a better score than last year in seven indicators of 12, including property rights, judicial effectiveness, business freedom, tax burden and others. At the same time, the Republic of Moldova was ranked among the first by taxation (92.0) and payment of taxes (85.4), where Moldova’s economy was classed as free,” it is said in a press release issued by the Government’s press service.
The neighboring countries Romania and Ukraine rank 42nd (68.6) and, respectively, 147th (52.3). Hong Kong (90.2), Singapore (89.4) and New Zealand (84.4) are considered the freest economies.
