Skopje, 28th May 2014 (MIA) – Performance of Macedonia in the field of economic freedoms is above the average in the region and wordlwide. Macedonia took up the 43rd position out of 180 countries in the last ranking of Heritage Foundation.
Since the start of the ranking in 2002, it has achieved excellent results and the reforms being undertaken in the period that will cover the next ranking are expected to contribute to progress in several sectors and better ranking.
This was pointed out by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Zoran Stavreski and the Heritage Foundation representative Luke Coffey who met today in the Ministry of Finance.
– Macedonia realized excellent performance since the commencement of the ranking in 2002. It realized improvements as regards the labour market flexibility, as well as in terms of attracting Foreign Direct Investments. Thus, you should be proud of what Macedonia achieved in such a short period, Coffey said following the meeting.
He indicated examples that Macedonia was ranked 43rd worldwide, while Greece was at the 119th position, as well as that Albania, according to the achieved score, was close to our country but that it lagged behind Macedonia by 11 places.
Deputy Prime Minister Stavreski pointed out that there was contentment that Macedonia was a leader in SEE according to the index of economic freedoms. According to him, the ranking is one more affirmation about the quality of the economic policies and the high level of economic freedom in this country.
He said that significant progress was made and that as of 2009, when we were ranked 78th, according to the last ranking published this year, there was advancement by 35 places. He believes that the next ranking will show even better performance.
Given that 2015 index will cover the period July 2013- July 2014, I believe that the reforms and the measures in this period will allow us to achieve progress in several areas and that the we be ranked at even higher position next year, although the current ranking is exceptionally satisfying and high, Deputy Prime Minister said.
Heritage foundation published the ranking of economic freedoms in the past 20 years. It measures the economic freedom through four areas, covering the freedom for starting business, financing business, protection of property rights, fiscal freedom, tax freedom, monetary freedom, trade freedom and similar.
According to the representative of Heritage Foundation, the measurement is very important since it contributes to greater stability, security and democracy.