Hong Kong is World’ s Freest Economy for 21st year

According to the 2015 Index of Economic Freedom, Hong Kong has maintained its position as the world’s freest economy for the 21st consecutive year.

A Government spokesman said: “We are committed to the free market principles which are the foundation of Hong Kong’s sustained economic stability, growth, and prosperity. We are pleased to see that our efforts to maintain Hong Kong’s economic freedom have been reaffirmed internationally for 21 years in a row.”

Hong Kong retained top position in business freedom, trade freedom, and financial freedom. Also, the jurisdiction received the second-top score in investment freedom. Its scores for fiscal freedom and labor freedom have slightly improved this year.

The Heritage Foundation highlighted Hong Kong’s efficient and transparent regulatory framework, low and simple tax regime, sophisticated capital markets, and its status as the most convenient platform for international companies doing business on the Mainland.

In 2015, Hong Kong achieved an overall score of 89.6 (on a scale from 0 to 100), a decline of 0.5 points compared with last year. This score was significantly above the global average of 60.4. Singapore ranked second with 89.4). Hong Kong and Singapore are followed by New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, Canada, Chile, Estonia, Ireland and Mauritius.

Filed under: Business and Economy, HK as a Financial Centre