Georgia’s Economy "Freer than that of Many Others"

Robert A. Lawson of the Fraser Institute, one of the authors of the Economic Freedom Report, met with a number of Georgian institutions at the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia while on a visit last week.

At the meeting attended by representatives of the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Justice, National Bank of Georgia, National Statistics Office of Georgia, government administration and the New Economy School of Georgia, Georgia’s economic reforms were discussed, with particular attention paid to issues of carrying out public-private partnership legislation framework, pension and capital market development reforms.

Lawson noted that the Georgian economy today is much freer than the economies of numerous other countries. As the Ministry of Economy reports, he also highlighted that the “majority of countries would wish to have the same economic system Georgia has”.

“We discussed the economic processes ongoing in Georgia since 2005, and the Economic Freedom Index,” Lawson said. “As Georgia has carried out more economic reforms than any other country, today the Georgian economy is much freer than that of many other countries, even my own country, the USA,” Lawson is said to have stated at the meeting.

“The meeting with Mr. Lawson and officials from Georgian ministries was extremely important, and saw discussion of ways to upgrade Georgia’s position in the World Economic Freedom index,” said Paata Shesheladze, co-founder of the New Economic School of Georgia.

The Index published in the Economic Freedom of the World Report (2016) measures the level to which country institutions and policies are supportive of economic freedom.

“The cornerstones of economic freedom are personal choice, voluntary exchange, freedom to enter markets and compete, and security of the person and privately-owned property,” the information about the report states.

The Economic Freedom of the World report was first published in 1996. 42 data points are used to create a summary index while the level of economic freedom is measured across the size of governments, expenditures, enterprises, taxes, legal structure and security of property rights, freedom to international trade, regulation of credit, labor and business, and access to sound money.

Hong Kong and Singapore are leading in the position of top-rated countries in the Economic Freedom of the World Index, with New Zealand, Switzerland, Canada, Georgia, Ireland, Mauritius, the United Arab Emirates, Australia and the United Kingdom among the top ten countries with free economies.

Nino Gugunishvili