Hong Kong has been ranked as the world's most free economy by
the Heritage Foundation (HF) for 12 consecutive years in its 2006
Index of Economic Freedom study released in Hong Kong on
Wednesday.
Welcoming the study results, financial secretary of the Hong
Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government,
Henry Tang, said the encouraging news showed that Hong Kong's
efforts in upholding a free market had once again been recognized
and reaffirmed by the international community.
According to the foundation, Hong Kong's virtues lie in its free
port with no barriers to trade; low level of government
intervention; high degree of transparency; the rule of law;
streamlined and uniformly applied business regulations; strictly
enforced yet non-burdensome labor regulations; simple procedures
for investing and running businesses; free capital flows and
foreign investment; minimum restrictions in banking and finance;
largely market-determined wages and prices, stringent protection of
property rights and low level of informal market activities.
"We will continue to strive to preserve fervently those strong
aspects of our economic freedom, while enhancing those other
aspects where there is room for further improvement," Tang
said.
He said the HKSAR government would continue to follow the
principle of "market leads, government facilitates" and provide a
business-friendly environment for all firms to compete on a
level-playing field while maintaining an appropriate regulatory
regime to ensure the integrity and smooth functioning of a free
market.
"The government is firmly committed to maintaining Hong Kong as
a free market economy that accords maximum scope to the private
sector," Tang said.
The study covered a total of 157 economies worldwide and
measured how well they scored on a list of 50 independent variables
grouped into 10 broad factors of economic freedom. Hong Kong was
ranked first in six out of these 10 broad factors with an improved
overall score when compared with that of the previous year.
According to the foundation, Hong Kong and Singapore finished
first and second in the rankings for the 12th straight year. The
other economies in the top 10 of the most free economies are
Ireland, Luxembourg, Iceland, the UK, Estonia, Denmark, Australia,
New Zealand and the US.
(Xinhua News Agency January 5, 2006)
