Kyrgyzstan improves position in Index of Economic Freedom

09:01, 17 февраля 2017, Bishkek - 24.kg news agency , Anton LYMAR

Kyrgyzstan has improved its position in the Index of Economic Freedom 2017, rising from the 96^th to 89^th place. Heritage Foundation report says.

As noted, as a result, experts have included Kyrgyzstan in the list of «moderately free» states.

Kyrgyzstan turned out to be ranged among Trinidad and Tobago, Swaziland, Uganda and the Bahamas.

«The Kyrgyz Republic is one of Central Asia’s poorest countries. Despite implementation of some reforms, overall improvement in the entrepreneurial environment has been slow and uneven. Political turmoil has contributed to policy volatility and uncertainty, hampering economic development," authors of the index said.

Political rivalries and powerful vested interests have held back implementation of deeper structural reforms.

Heritage Foundation

Estonia (6^th place in the ranking), Georgia (13^th), Lithuania (16^th), Latvia (20^th) and Armenia (33^rd) have the best performance among the post-Soviet states. They have received the status of «mostly free».

«Moderately free» category, in addition to Kyrgyzstan, includes also Kazakhstan (42^nd) and Azerbaijan (68^th).

«Mostly unfree» in terms of the economy are Belarus — 104^th place, Tajikistan — 109^th, Moldova — 110^th, Russia — 114^th, Uzbekistan — 148^th.

Ukraine (166^th) and Turkmenistan (170^th) were included in «repressed» countries category.