Bosnia and Herzegovina's ranking in the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal's Economic Freedom Index for 2013 is nothing to be excited about. While its overall ranking of our country has gone from 104th in 2012 to today's 103rd place, this score is totally insignificant to the goal of making a better business climate and increasing the economic well being in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The following are excerpts from the report:
"Bosnia and Herzegovina’s economic freedom score is 57.3, making its economy the 103rd freest in the 2013 Index. Its overall score is the same as last year, with improvements in the management of public spending and labor freedom offset by declines in monetary freedom and fiscal freedom. Bosnia and Herzegovina is ranked 38th out of 43 countries in the Europe region, and its overall score remains below the global and regional averages.
After several years of modest economic growth, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s economic performance has deteriorated, partly because of the global economic slowdown but mainly due to the lack of progress in improving regulatory efficiency and open-market policies. A large number of companies remain under state control, and privatization has virtually stalled.
Protection of property rights is poor, and corruption is widespread. The rule of law is weak, and local courts are subject to political interference and lack the resources to prosecute complex organized crimes effectively. Bureaucracy and costly registration procedures reflect a history of central planning. High public spending is a large burden on the economy."
Read the entire report here.
It goes without saying that Bosnia and Herzegovina's politicians should immediately stop squabbling about trivial issues and focus on improving the business climate through establishing a truly independent court system, strengthening of the rule of law, protection of property rights, decreasing bureaucracy regulations in regards to business establishment and operation, lower taxes, and lift restrictions on investment and trade.
But even our closest neighbors haven't managed to get much better rankings from the previous year, which clearly shows that the countries of the Balkan region have no appetite for economic liberalization and remain resolute in marching down the paths of socialism. For more on economic freedom rankings of individual countries click here.