Traders body expresses concern over declining economic freedom in Pakistan

Tajamal Waheed, President of Anjuman-e-Tajran Federation, has expressed deep concern over the declining level of economic freedom in Pakistan which has dropped as its index ranking deteriorated to the 118th place from the 110th last year among 141 countries, as to the Economic Freedom of the World: 2010 Annual Report.
He said that Pakistan's score declined this year to 5.80 from 5.95 in 2009 and the report shows Pakistan's score and rank in four out of five key areas of economic freedom has suffered. These areas include legal structures and security of property rights, access to sound money, freedom to trade internationally and regulation of credit, labour and business. The only area where Pakistan experienced an improvement is the size of the government.
He said the decline in Pakistan's overall performance is in line with the global downturn in economic freedom, the first in a quarter century, with the average score falling to 6.67 in 2008 (the most recent year for which data is available) from 6.74 in 2007. Of the 123 countries with economic freedom rankings dating back to 1980, 88 (71.5 percent) saw their rankings decrease, while only 35 (28.5 percent) recorded increase, says the report.
He said that the report shows that individuals living in countries with high levels of economic freedom enjoy higher levels of prosperity, greater personal freedoms, and longer life spans. The report also shows that countries with more economic freedom have substantially higher per capita income and higher growth rate. Life expectancy is about 20 years longer in freer countries.
He said that with fewer regulations, taxes, and tariffs, economic freedom reduces the degree of corruption. Hong Kong maintains the highest level of economic freedom world-wide with a score of 9.05 out of 10. The other top scorers are Singapore (8.70), New Zealand (8.27), Switzerland (8.08), Chile (8.03), the United States (7.96), Canada (7.95), Australia (7.90), Mauritius (7.82), and the UK (7.81). Zimbabwe, followed by Myanmar, Angola, and Venezuela, maintains the lowest level of economic freedom among 141 countries analysed.
Several countries have improved their relative levels of economic freedom over the past three decades: Ghana climbed to a score of 7.17 from 3.27 in 1980; Uganda to 7.15 from 3.42; Peru to 7.36 from 4.27; Israel to 6.86 from 3.79; and Turkey to 6.91 from 3.95. Tajamal urged for change in regulatory mechanism for best business facilitation's.