AKIPRESS.COM - Uzbekistan’s economic freedom score is 47.0, making its economy the 160th freest in the 2015 Index of Economic Freedom conducted by The Heritage Foundation in partnership with The Wall Street Journal.

The 2015 Index evaluates economic conditions and government policies in 186 countries. The 'free' economies in 2015 are in Hong Kong (89.6), Singapore (89.4), Australia (81.4), New Zealand (82.1), and Switzerland (80.5).

Uzbekistan's score is up by 0.5 point from last year, with improvements in trade freedom, freedom from corruption, and labor freedom outweighing declines in the management of government spending and business freedom.

Uzbekistan is ranked 37th out of 42 countries in the Asia–Pacific region, and its overall score is much lower than the world average.

A stagnant economic reform environment over the past five years has turned more positive recently, but gains have not been strong enough to propel the economy out of the “repressed” category.

Since 2011, economic freedom in Uzbekistan has increased by 1.2 points, with modest improvements in business freedom, labor freedom, monetary freedom, and trade freedom.28.01.2015

Despite sustained rapid growth on the back of high commodity prices and relative stability, the underlying foundations of Uzbekistan’s economy are weak. The rule of law is weakly enforced, a holdover from the Soviet past.

Investment is restricted in many industries, and financial markets are shallow, preventing the capital accumulation necessary for sustained growth. The state-owned banks and industries tend to respond to the government’s political priorities.

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The Heritage Foundation is a conservative research think tank based in Washington D.C.

The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper with a special emphasis on business and economic news.