September 14: Nepal been ranked third (after Bhutan and Sri Lanka) in economic freedom in the SAARC region, according to the annual peer-reviewed Economic Freedom of the World Report.

The report, produced by the Fraser Institute, Canada’s leading public policy think-tank, in cooperation with independent institutes in 80 nations and territories, including Samriddhi Foundation from Nepal ranked Nepal 106th among 157 countries. The report was based on figures from 2013. 

Nepal received an overall score of 6.56 (in a scale of 1 to 10 where a higher value indicates a higher level of economic freedom). It jumped 20 places up in the global ranking. Last year, Nepal ranked 126th out of 152 countries with a score of 6.16. 

“Despite the jump, Nepal’s score has improved only marginally, maintaining us as a country with low level of economic freedom,” said Dr. Hemanta Dabadi, Senior Fellow at Samriddhi, the Prosperity Foundation. 

Economic freedom is measured in five different areas: size of government, legal structure and security of property rights, access to sound money, freedom to trade internationally, regulation of credit and labor and business. 

Hong Kong has been ranked 1st with 8.97 out of 10. Singapore with 8.52, New Zealand with 8.19, Switzerland with 8.16 and the UAE with 8.15 complete the top five. The USA scored 7.73, Japan 7.52, China 6.44 and India 6.43. Argentina, Syria, Chad, Libya, Republic of Congo, and Venezuela (3.23) are the last five on list.