Belarus one of mostly unfree countries in world

According to research of The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal, Belarus has one of the lowest levels of economic freedom in the world. Belarus occupies 150 position from 157, and stands in the line with such countries as Iran, Turkmenistan, Burma, Libya, Zimbabwe, Cuba and North Korea.

Hong Kong has the freest economy, show the results of annual research published today. The former British enclave, having gone under the jurisdiction of China on a formula “one country, two systems”, has become a leader for the 14th year in succession. “We are determined to uphold this position," Hong Kong Financial Secretary John Tsang said today.

The survey’s authors estimate Hong Kong’s index of economic freedom of 90,3 from 100 points. Singapore is the second with 87,4 points, the third country is Ireland (82,4). Australia, United States, New Zealand, Canada, Chile, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom are in the first ten.

Russia occupies 134th position between Ukraine and Vietnam. China scored 52,8 and takes 126th position among 162 countries and world territories covered by research. Belarus, Iran, Turkmenistan, Burma, Libya, Zimbabwe, Cuba, and North Korea are at the bottom of the list.

The study is based on assessing of 10 factors, including business freedom, trade freedom, fiscal freedom, government size, freedom from corruption, etc.