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Economies most free in Hong
Kong, Singapore-study
11:22 p.m. Jan 10, 2000 Eastern WASHINGTON, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Hong Kong and Singapore have the most free economies in the world, according to a ranking of 123 countries published on Monday. The study by the Washington-based Cato Institute and Canada's Fraser Institute said the two Asian economies shared the number one ranking, followed in descending order by New Zealand, the United States and Britain. Other economies ranked near the top included Ireland in sixth position, Canada and Australia sharing the seventh position and the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Switzerland sharing the ninth position. At the bottom of the table stood Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, ranked in the 123rd position. The economies are ranked according to seven categories which include size of government, structure of the economy, monetary policy and price stability, freedom to use alternative currencies, security of private ownership, freedom of trade and freedom of capital markets. |