Serbia ranks 94th in Index of Economic Freedom

NEW YORK -- Serbia is ranked 94th out of 177 countries in the Heritage Foundation Index of Economic Freedom for 2013 - improving its result by 0.6 points on previous year.

Serbia's economic freedom score is 58.6, up by 0.6 points against 2012, with improvements in half of the 10 economic freedoms, including investment freedom and business freedom, outweighing deteriorations in freedom from corruption and monetary freedom.

According to the 2013 index, published by the Wall Street Journal and The Heritage Foundation based on their last year's survey, Serbia is ranked 37th out of 43 countries in the Europe region, and its overall score is below the world and regional averages.

“Over the past decade, Serbia has implemented significant structural reforms in some parts of its economy. The economy's competitiveness is supported by low flat tax rates, relative openness to global trade, and ongoing regulatory reforms,” according to the report on Serbia's economy.

“At 10 percent, the corporate tax rate is among Europe's lowest. A wider range of credit instruments has become available to the private sector, but the level of financial intermediation remains relatively low,” says the report.

“Despite some progress, Serbia lacks the political will needed for bold institutional reforms. Inefficient government spending remains high. Deeper institutional reforms are needed to tackle bureaucracy, reduce corruption, and strengthen a judicial system that is vulnerable to political interference,” - according to the authors of the report.