Russia has dropped by 10 positions - down to the 153rd place - in the Index of Economic Freedom calculated by the American Research Institute “Heritage Foundation” and “The Wall Street Journal” publication. The index is published on the website of Heritage Foundation.

      The Russian Federation gaining 50.6 points was in the end of the group of countries whose economies are considered “mostly unfree”. Belarus was included into the group of countries with “repressed economies”, dropping from the 153rd to the 157th place.

      The 162nd position in the same group has been kept by Ukraine. In addition, the compilers of the list included Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan into this category. The countries with the freest economies, just like a year ago, were Hong Kong, Singapore and New Zealand, and unfree ones - Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea. The US is rated 11th, China - 144th. The compilers of the ranking take into account the degree of economic freedom calculated by them on the basis of ten criteria. The key ones include guarantee of property rights, freedom from corruption, efficiency and transparency of government expenditures, freedom of trade and labor, market flexibility.