Photo: Glavsprav

Kazakhstan is located on the 41st place of the economic freedom rating, reports the American research center Heritage Foundation.

Kazakhstan scored 69.1 points out of 100 possible. In comparison with last year, the indicator of economic freedom has improved by only 0.1 points.

"Kazakhstan ranks 11th among 43 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, and its overall score is above the regional and global average," the report says. Despite some positive changes, investors are still concerned about corruption and bureaucracy in the country, especially at the regional and municipal levels.

"An additional problem is the banking sector, which suffers from low liquidity, poor asset quality and lack of transparency," the Heritage Foundation says.

Kazakhstan outranked countries such as Poland (45th), Turkey (58th), Spain (60th), France (71st) and China (110th). Among the countries of the former Soviet Union, Armenia is closest to our country - 44th, Azerbaijan - 67th, Kyrgyzstan - 78th.

The rating of the economies of countries is based on ten criteria, among them - guarantee of property rights, protection from corruption, efficiency and transparency of budget expenditures, freedom of trade, flexibility of the labour market.

“The Qazaq Times”