Singapore scored 87.4 on the Index of Economic Freedom, which is published annually by the The Wall Street Jornal and American conservative think-tank The Heritage Foundation.
The Republic finishing behind Hong Kong for the 14th straight year, but has closed the previous gap from 3.4% to 2.9%. Last year Singapore's lower scores on the degree of freedom in its financial sector and taxation.
This year, the editors of the index lauded Singapore as the top scorer in terms of business and labour freedom. Other types of freedom taken into consideration including trade and monetary, as well as size of the government and freedom from corruption.
Hong Kong and Singapore, two small open economies, dependent on external investment for growth, share very much of the same mindset. That is to be open, transparent, flexible and accommodating in order to attract more business and investment, are some of the factors and foundation of success and progress of the two countries.
Top 10
Index of economies freedom
Economy Overall Score
Hong Kong 90.3
Singapore 87.4
Ireland 82.4
Australia 82.0
United States 80.6
New Zealand 80.2
Canada 80.2
Chile 79.8
Switzerland 79.7
Britain 79.5
With Australia coming in fourth, the Asia-Pacific has three at the world's five freest economies. Well done, Asia-Pacific. I would say that this is a good indicator or signal of the more potential growth and activities in the economy in this region.
