ECONOMIC freedom in Slovakia has worsened rapidly, according to a report released by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal daily. The country fell in the ranking by 14 places to 51st, the SITA newswire reported.
“Economic freedom in Slovakia reached a peak in 2008 and since then it has been experiencing a falling trend,” said representatives of the Heritage Foundation, an American organisation, as quoted by SITA.
They added that the impulse for implementation of deeper institutional reforms has been lost and that predictions for future economic development are restrained by an ineffective fight against corruption and weak efforts by the government to support the principle of the rule of law.
Slovakia’s position was worsened by many factors, including increased state expenditure, halted privatisation of state property, inflexibility in the labour market and a worse evaluation of the freedom of trade, the foundation said. However, the biggest problem was corruption and delayed proceedings in the justice system.
In comparison with other Visegrad Group (V4) countries Slovakia recorded the second worst evaluation; Poland was in 64th place. The best evaluation was given to the Czech Republic, which placed 30th, followed by Hungary in 49th place.
