Skopje, 22nd February 2017 (MIA) – Ranking of Macedonia at the 31st position according to the Index of Economic Freedom of Heritage Foundation, and the progress by 10 points in only ten years is stunning and something I have never seen elsewhere. You should be proud thereof, the Ambassador Terry Miller, the Director of the Center of Trade and Economic of this Foundation said at today’s presentation of the Report in Skopje.
He pointed out that they started grading Macedonia in 2002 when, as he said, the developments were not so perfect, adding that the first progress was noted in the period 2006-2007. From this period onwards, Macedonia made progress on continuous basis.
– The tendency of the graphic display of this progress looks dramatic. It is an increase by ten points in the last ten years. I have not seen this anywhere else in the world. This indicates that Macedonia continuously achieved good results throughout its history. You have been independent for around 25 years now, and the economic results you realized in the past ten years are phenomenal, Miller said.
This, as he said, your country gained 70.7 points, a category of mostly free countries. Switzerland, which is the fourth country according to the Index, is by ten points ahead of Macedonia. Your country improved by 10 points in the last several years. – So only the sky is a limit. When you have a country, which population is committed to implementing reforms, you can do almost everything, Miller said.
Anthony Kim, Research Manager in the Foundation agrees with Miller that there is no reason why Macedonia could not join the first ten countries, leaders in economic freedom worldwide.
– You may be Estonia if you want to, or even Switzerland. Now is the time to make this happen, given the considerable progress you achieved. The good policies you implemented in the past years has really paid off. Therefore, you welcomed 2017 at this high position. This is something you should be really proud of and you should continue to reach such positive results in future as well, Kim said.
Minister of Finance believed that that the ranking of Macedonia speaks in favour of the implemented reforms and the commitment thereto.
– This year, we are ranked at the 31st position among 186 countries, thus increasing by 16 positions compared to last year, while compared to 2006, we advanced by even 47 places. Thus, Macedonia is a leader in the region, according to the Index of Economic Freedom, as convincingly the mostly free country in the region, being by 15 places higher than its closest competitor in the neighborhood and ahead of much more developed European countries, speaking of our commitment during the reform period, Minoski said,
This ranking means a lot for Macedonia, since the Index values indicators being important for both the investors and the business, such as property rights, Government’s integrity, tax burden, business freedom, trade freedom, investment freedom, etc.
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