Global Economic Freedom Index 2020: India Slips From 79th Spot To 105th; Cause Of Concern For Common Man?

Global Economic Freedom Index 2020: India was positioned at 79th position in last year’s Economic Freedom Index. However, the country has fallen 26 spots to 105th rank in Economic Freedom Index 2020.

(Representative Image/ Getty)

New Delhi: India has slipped 26 spots, from 79th position in last year’s rankings to 105th rank this year on Global Economic Freedom Index 2020. The report co-published by the Cato Institute and the Fraser Institute of Canada, has been released in India in conjunction with New Delhi-based think tank Centre For Civil Society. The purpose of the report is to measure the economic freedom of a country by analysing the policies and institutions in comparison with 162 other countries and territories. The report takes into consideration levels of personal choice, ability to enter markers, security of privately owned property, rule of law and more. The analysis is done on the scale of 10. It is worth mentioning that the score closer to 10 indicates a higher level of economic freedom of the country. India's Condition Deteriorated: India was positioned at 79th position in last year’s Economic Freedom Index. However, the country has fallen 26 spots to 105th rank in Economic Freedom Index 2020. According to the report based on 2018 data, in the last one year, India's condition has deteriorated slightly on the criteria like size of government, judicial system and property rights, freedom of trade globally, regulation of finance, labor and business. It highlighted that the prospect of increasing economic freedom in India depends on the next generation of reforms in factor markets including greater openness to international trade. The report showed marginal drop in size of government from 8.22 to 7.16. In terms of legal system and property rights, India reported a drop from 5.17 to 5.06. It further reported fall in freedom to trade internationally which fell from 6.08 to 5.71. In terms of regulation of finance, labor and business, it has got 6.53 marks instead of 6.63. Performance Card Of Other Countries Hong Kong and Singapore retain the top two positions with a score of 8.91 and 8.71 out of 10. This year’s top scores are New Zealand, Switzerland, United States, Ireland, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Mauritius. The 10 lowest‐​rated countries include Iraq, Republic of Congo, Egypt, Syria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Algeria, Sudan, Libya, and lastly Venezuela. The rankings of other large economies are as follows: Japan (17th), Germany (20th), Italy (46th), France (50th), Mexico (76th), Russia (85th), India (79th), China (113th), and Brazil (120th).