Hong Kong trumps Singapore again to be world’s freest economy for 24th year straight, US think tank says
Releasing the Heritage Foundation’s annual ranking, founder Edwin Feulner says no need to worry about a Sino-US trade war
Hong Kong was ranked the world’s freest economy for the 24th straight year by a prominent US conservative think tank on Friday, which also downplayed the risk of a Sino-US trade war.
The city scored 90.2 out of 100 points, compared to rival financial hub Singapore’s 88.8 points, in the annual index of economic freedom compiled by the Heritage Foundation, a right-wing policy research institute based in Washington.
Hong Kong pips Singapore to be ranked world’s freest economy for 23rd consecutive year
Hong Kong scored high in the four areas taken into account by the index: rule of law, government size, regulatory efficiency, and open markets. A lower incidence of corruption and decrease in business registration fees lifted its overall score by 0.4 this year compared with last year.
China was 110th, edging up one place from last year, while North Korea was once again at the bottom of the list of 180 economies.
The US dropped one place to 18th, even though its score improved by 0.6 points on the back of better financial freedom, such as lower government regulation in financial services.
At a press briefing in Hong Kong on Friday, Edwin Feulner, Heritage Foundation president, also addressed recent concerns about US President Donald Trump’s “America first” approach and said there was no need to worry about a trade war.