H.K. again ranked freest economy in world

HONG KONG, Jan. 15 Kyodo

Hong Kong has been ranked the freest economy in the world for the 14th consecutive year by the Heritage Foundation, a U.S. conservative think tank, and the Wall Street Journal, according to an annual report released Tuesday.

The 2008 Index of Economic Freedom ranked 157 countries and regions in the world to examine the relationship between their economic policies and prosperity in 10 categories: business freedom, trade freedom, fiscal freedom, government size, monetary freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom, property rights, freedom from corruption and labor freedom.

''Hong Kong is clearly blazing a trail for others to follow,'' the report said. ''Hong Kong has the top score in six of the 10 factors.''

Following the former British colony are Singapore, Ireland, Australia, the United States, New Zealand, Canada, Chile, Switzerland and Britain, the report said.

Singapore beat out Hong Kong in business freedom, government size, monetary freedom, freedom from corruption and labor freedom, meaning that ''it is easiest to start, operate, and close a firm there, and (Singapore) also allows firms the most flexibility in hiring and firing workers.''

Hong Kong still needs to strengthen intellectual property rights protection and tighten monitoring over electricity and transportation costs, while Singapore needs to allow more financial freedom, the report said.

Japan ranked 17th, Taiwan 25th, Indonesia 119th, China 126th and North Korea has been listed as the least free economy at 157th.

Japan enjoys the strongest monetary freedom, thanks largely to its low inflation rate, the report said.

Economic freedom is changing in the Asia-Pacific region, led by India and China, and it is significantly stronger than the world average, specifically in labor freedom and freedom from government.

''Our 14 years of index data strongly suggest that countries that increase their levels of freedom experience faster growth rates,'' the report said.

Asian countries could make the most progress by strengthening their banking and investment institutions, it added.

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