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Jamaica 52nd In World Economic Freedom Rating

For those who dare to think that nutten nah gwaan fi Jamaica, the2009 Index of Economic Freedom now ranks Jamaica at 52, in terms of economic freedom. Barbados leads CARICOM states in that area and Singapore tops the list.

The Index, published jointly by the Wall Street Journal and the Heritage Foundation gave Barbados an overall ranking of 22 with 71.5 points, five places ahead of its closest CARICOM rival, the Bahamas (70.3 points), ranked at 29.The index ranked St Lucia at 39, with 68.8 points; Trinidad and Tobago at 41, with 68 points; and St Vincent and the Grenadines at 60, with 64.3 points.

Belize was ranked at 66, with 63 points; Dominica at 70, with 62.6 points; Suriname at 125, with 54.1 points; Haiti at 147, with 50.5 points; and Guyana, in the cellar position, at 155, with 48.4 points. Jamaica earned a score of 65.2 points.The other CARICOM nations were not identified in the index.

The index ranked Hong Kong at no 1, with 90 points; Singapore at no 2, with 87.1 points; Australia at no 3, with 82.6 points; and the United States at no 6, with 80.7 points. The 2009 Index of Economic Freedom, released Tuesday, covers 183 countries across 10 specific freedoms. They are: business freedom, trade freedom, fiscal freedom, government size, monetary freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom, property rights, freedom from corruption and labour freedom.

Ratings in each category were averaged to produce the overall index score, the authors said. They said the higher the score, the lower the level of government interference. All countries were graded on a scale of zero to 100.

Of the countries ranked, only seven were classified as "free" (a score of 80 or higher). Another 23 were rated as ‘mostly free’ (70-79.9). The bulk of countries - 120 economies - were rated either "moderately free" (60-60.9) or "mostly un-free" (50-50.9). The remaining 29 countries were rated "repressed" economies, with total freedom scores below 50.

The authors said the index confirmed the "positive correlation between economic freedom and national income". "The freest countries enjoy per capita incomes over 10 times higher than those in countries ranked as 'repressed'," they said, stating that this year, for the first time, the index also correlated economic freedom with "important societal values," like poverty reduction, human development, political freedom and environmental protection.

The Wall Street Journal and The Heritage Foundation said they have been measuring countries' commitment to free-market capitalism in the "Index of Economic Freedom" for the past 15 years. They said the index "provides strong evidence that the countries that maintain the freest economies do the best job of promoting prosperity for all citizens."

source: CMC

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