According to the World Economic Freedom Report recently released by Canada's Fraser Institute, Vietnam ranked 106th out of 165 countries and territories in the World Economic Freedom Index, up 4 places. compared to 2022.
The World Economic Freedom Report measures individuals' economic freedom - the ability to make their own economic decisions - by analyzing the policies and institutions of 165 countries and territories.
Institutions and policies considered include State management regulations, freedom of international trade, size of government, legal system and property rights, and good monetary policy.
This report is published annually by the Fraser Institute in cooperation with the Economic Freedom Network - a group of independent research and educational institutes in nearly 100 countries and territories. This is the world's leading measure of economic freedom.
In this year's report, Vietnam ranked 106th, up 4 places compared to last year. According to the Fraser Institute, this is a relatively high increase compared to other countries in Southeast Asia.
Vietnam recorded an increase in scores in 4 of the 5 main component indexes (scale from 1 to 10, where higher values indicate higher levels of economic freedom). Among them, the legal system and property rights (ranked 77th), increased from 4.96 to 5.15 points; good currency (ranked 128th), increased from 6.96 to 7.02 points; international trade freedom (ranked 98th), increased from 6.4 to 6.52 points; regulations on credit, labor, and business (ranked 103rd), increased from 6.08 to 6.10 points.
According to Mr. Dinh Tuan Minh, Research Director of the Center for Research on Market Solutions for Socio-Economic Issues (MASSEI - part of Fraser's network), Vietnam has had a steady upward trend since 2015. Up to now, it reflects the Government's efforts to restructure the economy towards full market economic development and international integration.
"This can be good evidence to confirm that Vietnam's economy has operated according to the market mechanism," he acknowledged. However, he also said that, compared to many countries in the region, Vietnam still needs to make efforts to continue to achieve a higher ranking.
In this year's report, the number 1 position in economic freedom belongs to Singapore, followed by Hong Kong (China), Switzerland, New Zealand, the US, and Ireland. Other notable countries and economies include Japan (ranked 20th), Germany (23rd), France (47th), Russia (104th), and China (111th).
(Bao Chinh Phu)