MALAYSIA has come in 45th place in the world economic freedom index this year.
The Heritage Foundation index of economic freedom recorded Malaysia’s overall score as 65.7 which indicates it as a moderately free country in the index.
The index includes 12 aspects of economic freedom measured and grouped into “four broad pillars”, according to the index:
- Rule of law (property rights, judicial effectiveness, and government integrity);
- Government size (tax burden, government spending, and fiscal health);
- Regulatory efficiency (business freedom, labor freedom, and monetary freedom)
- Market openness (trade freedom, investment freedom, and financial freedom)
Property rights in Malaysia this year was recorded at 65.7, judicial effectiveness at 65.5, government integrity at 48.2 and tax burden at 83.9.
Furthermore, government spending was recorded at 81.4 per cent, fiscal health at 42.8, business freedom at 70.5, labour freedom at 58.2, monetary freedom at 79.1, trade freedom at 83, investment freedom at 60 and financial freedom at 50.
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Globally, Singapore came in first, surpassing Switzerland at 83.5 per cent while Ireland came in second place at 82.6 and Luxemborg at 79.2.
In the Asia-Pacific region, Malaysia was ranked in ninth place while Singapore came in first place,Taiwan in second place and New Zealand in third place.
Meanwhile in the Southeast Asian region, Malaysia came in third place while Singapore also came in first place and Brunei in second place.
Countries whose economic freedoms were unrecorded in the index were Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Liechtenstein, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen.
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The world economic freedom index has compiled data containing economic policies and conditions from 184 sovereign countries from July 1 2022, through June 30 2023.
Each country’s economic freedom is measured through a score ranging from:
- 80 to 100 (free)
- 70-79.9 (mostly free)
- 60 - 69.9 (moderately free)
- 50–59.9 (mostly unfree)
- 0–49.9 (repressed or not graded)
