Georgia ranked third in the world in trade and economic freedom survey
Monday, January 18
The 2016 Index of Economic Freedom survey ranked Georgia in third place among 178 countries after it gained 88.6 points.
Meanwhile, in last year’s report, Georgia was ranked 22nd place among 178 countries after it gained 73 points.
Hong Kong was placed number one on the 2016 list. Among 178 countries, Russia came in at 111rd place.
As for the other countries in the region, the survey showed Armenia got 85 points and took 49th place, while Azerbaijan gained 75 points and 93rd place, while Turkey received 84 points and was placed 55th.
"Because we have an open and liberal economy, we have no barriers and obstacles at the borders. The production which is necessary for our population is imported without additional taxes to Georgia," said Georgia's Economy Minister Dimitry Kumsishvili.
"When we suffered from the [national currency Lari] devaluation there was a [risk] of inflation, but because of open and transparent trade policy we avoided this risk. The international rating organisation also recognised [our efforts] and Georgia will be ranked as the third country in the world in terms of trade freedom," he added.
The latest rankings of trade freedom around the world, included in the forthcoming 2016 Index of Economic Freedom, confirmed that citizens of countries that embrace free trade were better off than those in countries that do not.
Worldwide, the average trade freedom score improved slightly, from 75.3 to 75.6 (of a maximum score of 100). The improvement was due to a modest decline in average tariff rates among the countries measured.
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(IPN)