Economic freedom: Armenia tops CIS countries at 18th spot globallySeptember 17, 2016 - 15:34 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia has been listed in the top 20 among the world’s most economically free countries, raking the 18th out of 159 countries and territories, according to a new Fraser Institute report. The country is leading the CIS member states in terms of economic freedom. This year's Economic Freedom of the World report is based on data from 2014 and measures the economic freedom by analyzing the policies and institutions of all the countries and territories reviewed. The Fraser Institute, independent non-partisan research and educational organization, produces the annual report in cooperation with the Economic Freedom Network, a group of independent research and educational institutes in nearly 100 countries and territories. It's the world's premier measurement of economic freedom, ranking countries based on economic freedom, which is measured in five areas: size of government, legal structure and security of property rights, access to sound money, freedom to trade internationally, and regulation of credit, labor and business. Only Georgia from Armenia's neighbors was better placed on the World Economic Freedom Index – 5th worldwide – while Turkey, Azerbaijan and Iran took the 90th, 107th and 150th spots, respectively. The United States ranked 16th for the second year in a row, while Russia came in 102nd. In the same report published a year earlier and based on data from 2013, Armenia ranked the 18th again. This year, Hong Kong was rated on the top position worldwide and was rated as having the highest level of economic freedom, closely followed by Singapore (2nd), New Zealand (3rd), Switzerland (4th), Canada, Georgia, Ireland, Mauritius and the United Arab Emirates (sharing 5th to 9th spots), as well as Australia and United Kingdom (sharing 10th to 11th spots). The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with ties to a global network of think-tanks in 87 countries. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for Canadians, their families and future generations by studying, measuring and broadly communicating the effects of government policies, entrepreneurship and choice on their well-being. Top stories Yerevan has dismissed Turkey’s demand to shut down the Armenian nuclear power plant as “inappropriate”. Armenia will loan 2.9 billion drams to Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), according to a draft government decision. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan has “strongly condemned” Armenia’s decision. Kerobyan has said that for the first time in the history of Armenia, the volume of foreign direct investments amounted to about $1 billion. Partner news | Scholz hopes Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty will be signed this year German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hopes that a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan will be signed this year. Ucom equips four bus stops in Ijevan with free Wi-Fi Ucom now provides free Wi-Fi coverage in smart bus stops in four communities of Ijevan. Armenians stage more campaigns against territorial concessions to Azerbaijan Protesters blocked more roads across Armenia on Friday, April 26 in continuing attempts to scuttle territorial concessions to Azerbaijan. Czech-Armenian military cooperation discussed in Yerevan A delegation led by the Director General for the Industrial Cooperation Division of the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic visited Armenia. |