India slips 26 spots to 105th position on 2020 Economic Freedom Index: Fraser Institute Report

India took the 105th position in the 24th Edition of Economic Freedom of the World: 2020 Annual Report by Canada’s Fraser Institute, which has been released in India in conjunction with Center for Civil Society, New Delhi-based think tank. The report is co-published by CATO Institute (America) with more than 70 think tanks around the world.

This is the 24th edition of Economic Freedom of the World.The report is based on 2018 data. Hong Kong topped the Index with a score of 8.94, followed by Singapore (8.65) and New Zealand (8.53). This year’s publication ranks 162 countries and territories for 2018. The Report has been divided into 4 Quartiles based on the rankings.

Degrees of Freedom:

i.The degree of freedom is measured in five broad areas. They are: 

• Size of Government
• Legal System and Property Rights
• Sound Money
• Freedom to Trade Internationally 
• Regulation. 

India’s Prospects:

i.In order to increase Economic Freedom in India, it has to depend on next generation reforms in factor markets and openness to International Trade. 

ii. India took the 79th spot in the 2018 Ranking. 

iii.India reported a marginal decrease in size of Government (from 8.22 to 7.16), legal system and property rights (from 5.17 to 5.06), freedom to trade internationally (6.08 to 5.71) and regulation of credit, labour and business (6.63 to 6.53).

iv.The Rankings were based on 2018 data and many new restrictions on international trade, tightening of the credit market due to Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) and COVID-19’s impact on debt and deficits did not reflect in India’s score. 

v.India has been ranked higher than China, which stands at the 124th position.

Other Rankings:

i.New Zealand, Switzerland, US, Australia, Mauritius, Georgia, Canada and Ireland came in the top-ten rankings.

ii.The 10 lowest-rated countries are African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Algeria, Iran, Angola, Libya, Sudan and Venezuela. 

iii.The rankings of other major countries are Japan (20th), Germany (21st), Italy (51st), France (58th), Mexico (68th), Russia (89th) and Brazil (105th). 

The Nations in the top Quartile of Economic Freedom had an average per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of US $ 44, 198 in 2018, compared to $ 5, 754 for bottom quartile nations. 

iv.Life expectancy is 80.3 years in the top quartile compared to 65.6 years in the bottom quartile. 

Recent Related News:

i.On March 23, 2020 the Heritage Foundation published its 26th annual edition of Economic Freedom Index 2020 to measure the level of economic freedom in 186 countries. India (56.5) ranks in 120th position.

ii.On March 21, 2020 the United Nations (UN) released the 8th World Happiness Report 2020 to measure the happiness of people of 156 countries where India (3.573) ranks in 144th position & Finland (7.809) tops the 3rd time.

About Fraser Institute:
Chairman – Peter Brown 
Headquarters – Vancouver, Canada

About Centre for Civil Society:
President – Partha J Shah
Headquarters – New Delhi