AKIPRESS.COM - Turkmenistan’s economic freedom score is 41.4, ranking its economy the 172nd in the 2015 Index of Economic Freedom out of 186 countries.
The 2015 Index evaluates economic conditions and government policies in 186 countries. Since its inception in 1995, it has tracked the progress of economic freedom around the globe and measured the impact of advancing economic liberty.
As the 2015 Index shows, the precipitous decline of America’s economic freedom since 2008 has been arrested. However, the United States remains stuck in the 12th spot globally. Continuing to trail such comparable economies as New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, and Canada, America remains only “mostly free” as it has since 2010.
Turkmenistan's score has declined by 0.8 point since last year, with improvements in freedom from corruption, trade freedom, and the control of government spending outweighed by a combined decline in labor freedom, monetary freedom, and fiscal freedom.
Turkmenistan is ranked 41st out of 42 countries in the Asia–Pacific region, and its overall score is significantly lower than the world and regional averages.
Turkmenistan is one of the world’s most closed and most centralized countries. Apart from natural gas exports, it engages little with the outside world, and a large proportion of its society lives in poverty. Since 2011, economic freedom in Turkmenistan has declined by 2.2 points, reflecting a further worsening of already strict labor rules and increasing inflation.
Turkmenistan ranks last in the world for its investment regime, and state-owned enterprises dominate much of the domestic economy and formal sector. The executive controls all three branches of government, making judicial independence impossible. Corruption and nepotism limit the economic prospects of those who are not well connected.