STA, 10 September 2020 - Slovenia has advanced five ranks to 62nd among 162 countries in an economic freedom report published on Thursday by the libertarian institutes Visio from Slovenia and Fraser from Canada. Slovenia remains one spot behind Croatia.
The data, presented in the 2020 annual report, looks at data from 2018, "when Slovenia made a few steps forward", Visio Institute president Tanja Porčnik said.
"The positive change have to do both with the reduction in the size of the (para)state, in particular through a decrease in state ownership in companies, and fewer rules in international trade, better protection of property rights and the strengthening of the independence of public administration," she added.
As for negative trends, Porčnik mentioned an increase in transfers and subsidies as a share of GDP and a more fragile euro.
Slovenia received 7.33 out of 10 possible points this year. It is ranked 138th when it comes to the size of the para-state, 31st in the legal system and property rights, 51st when it comes to currency stability, 47th when it comes to freedom in international trade and 75th in terms of regulations.
In the detailed analysis of the field measuring economic freedom in relation to regulations, Slovenia ranks 88th in regulations governing the credit market, 95th in labour market regulations and 55th in business regulations.
Ranked highest among all countries in the 2020 report is Hong Kong, which received 8.94 points, followed by Singapore (8.64), New Zealand (8.53) and Switzerland (8.45). Ireland is the highest ranked EU member state in 10th place (8.13 points).
The full report can be found here in PDF form
