2008 Rankings of Trade Freedom: Philippines ranked 80th

The Philippines is now ranked 80 th among 179 countries in the 2009 rankings of trade freedom around the world.
The Heritage Foundation said the Philippines was in the top half of the latest rankings with a score of 78.6 points, a slight improvement over the 74.8 points it received in the 2008 trade freedom assessment.
The think-thank group said the rankings show many countries moving ahead on their own to lower tariffs and cut other barriers to trade.
Countries standing still or moving backward in response to protectionist political pressures are likely to find themselves falling behind with lower growth rates and stagnating economies, Heritage said.
Included among the top ten countries in trade freedom are Hong Kong at the head of the rankings with 95 points, Singapore (90 ) and Canada (88.2 ). The United States and Mauritius tied in 13 th place with 86.8 points.
Among the bottom dwellers are North Korea, Comoros, Seychelles, Djibouti, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Zimbabwe, the Central African Republic, and India.
The Index of Economic Freedom, produced annually by The Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal, measures economic freedom within 10 specific categories: labor freedom, business freedom, trade freedom, fiscal freedom, government size, monetary freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom, property rights and freedom from corruption.
Countries which score between 80 and 100 percent in the index are said to have free economies. Mostly free economies are those with scores between 70 and 79.9 , moderately free (between 60 and 69.9 ) and "mostly unfree" (between 50 and 59.9 ). Countries with scores below 50 are rated as economically repressed.-GNP