Luxembourg Ranked Third in 2005 Wall Street Journal-Heritage Foundation Worldwide Index of Economic Freedom; Moves Up from Fourth Place in 2004 Survey

Business Wire, Jan 5, 2005

NEW YORK -- The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has been ranked number three in the annual Wall Street Journal-Heritage Foundation survey of the world's freest economies.

The Wall Street Journal published the full list of 155 nations on its editorial page Jan. 4. Hong Kong was ranked first, Singapore second, Luxembourg third, ahead of Estonia, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The 2005 survey was the 11th time the Index of Economic Freedom has been published.

Luxembourg moved up from fourth place in the January 2004 survey. The United States was ranked 12th.

According to the Journal article, the Index scores economic freedom using 10 categories, including government regulation, fiscal burdens, monetary policy, trade policy, property rights, inflation, competition banking and finance, and others.

The list is divided into five categories: free, mostly free, mostly unfree, repressed, and unrated.

Luxembourg, a founding member of the European Union, assumed the presidency of the council of the EU on January 1 and will serve until June 30. Luxembourg has traditionally been listed in the top ranks of the free economies since the survey was inaugurated. For more information www.heritage.org.

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