Category Archives: Fiscal Freedom

Its no surprise that N.C. legislators might disagree about regulatory reforms that make substantive changes to state policies. Some might prefer larger development buffers or more frequent inspections. Plans to scrap a controversial rule can lead to heated debate.

But the proposed Regulatory Reform Act filed as Senate Bill 131 reminds us that at least some of the thrust of regulatory reform deals less with policy choices than with overly burdensome paperwork.

More than 5,400 of the roughly 10,000 words in the current version of the bill address elimination and consolidation of reports. If lawmakers adopt the bill in its current form, they would eliminate an annual report on mining tied to a 1971 Mining Act. They would stop forcing the N.C. Department of Administration to prepare an annual report on implementation of the Sustainable Energy-Efficient Buildings Program. They would eliminate a required annual report on fish kills in the state. The list goes on.

To be clear, none of these changes would affect any laws or rules that target mining, energy efficiency in buildings, or activities that lead to fish kills. The only change is the required report to state lawmakers.

That means time government workers now spend preparing reports that lawmakers no longer need could be spent on other more substantive regulatory work. Perhaps the state might even see some cost savings from eliminating jobs devoted only to preparing outdated or unnecessary reports.

Certainly, eliminating or consolidating dozens of government reports sounds less exciting than cutting residents tax bills or expanding parental choices in education. But regulatory reform in general holds great potential for boosting the North Carolina economy.

That was a key message state senators heard last week from authors of the Cato Institutes Freedom in the 50 States report. The Tar Heel State ranks No. 19 in overall freedom in the latest report. Its No. 26 ranking in regulatory freedom offers the best potential for major gains.

Eliminating paperwork is unlikely on its own to move the needle on regulatory freedom. But the exercise fits well with an overall approach to rules and regulations that challenges the status quo.

Its the same type of approach that has helped North Carolina find success in another recent regulatory reform: the formal review of almost 20,000 state rules. Lawmakers approved the idea in 2013. With the process less than half complete, reviewers have targeted more than 1,000 rules (12 percent of those examined to date) to head to the proverbial scrap heap.

That percentage could climb if lawmakers support the Rules Review Commission chairmans proposal to change the review process. He wants to eliminate a review option that now allows an existing state rule to escape extensive scrutiny if regulators determine that it is both necessary and noncontroversial. To date, more than 60 percent of rules subject to review have secured that designation. That loophole would disappear if lawmakers choose to pursue RRC recommendations.

2016 marked the first year since Republicans took control of both chambers of the General Assembly that they reached no agreement on a broad regulatory reform agenda. Even a last-ditch effort to consider reforms during a special December legislative session fell short.

As reformers consider SB131 and other potential regulatory ideas this year, they might want to consider the words of Jason Sorens, co-author of the Cato report and program director of the Political Economy Project at Dartmouth College.

What we find is that Americans do, in fact, vote for freedom, and they vote for it looks like all elements of freedom: fiscal, regulatory, and personal. Each of these is statistically correlated with net in-migration from other states. In other words, people are moving from less free states to freer states.

Freedom generates other tangible benefits. Freedom is valuable for its own sake, but its also valuable because it impacts a lot of things we care about like economic growth and whether businesses are moving into a state or out of a state, said William Ruger, Sorens co-author and a vice president at the Charles Koch Institute.

Yet another reason why regulatory reform, in all its forms, remains a worthwhile pursuit.

http://robesonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/web1_kokai.jpg

Mitch Kokai is senior political analyst for the John Locke Foundation.

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Excess rules stifle freedom - The Robesonian

Pakistan has been ranked two points ahead of India in theIndex of Economic Freedom 2017published by Washingtons No. 1 think tank, The Heritage Foundation, which measures the principles of economic freedom and progress.

Economic freedom is the fundamental right of every human to control his or her own labor and property brings greater prosperity. In an economically free society, individuals are free to work, produce, consume, and invest, and governments allow labor, capital, and goods to move freely, and refrain from coercion or constraint of liberty.

Pakistan is ranked at 141 out of a total 180 countries, while India is ranked at 143. However, both countries are ranked in the Mostly Unfree category.

The reports states that Pakistan has pursued reforms to improve its entrepreneurial environment and facilitate private-sector development. The financial sector has undergone modernisation and restructuring while progress in improving the entrepreneurial environment has been modest.

However, overall progress lags significantly behind other countries in the region. The tax system is complex and inefficient despite reforms to broaden the tax base and increase transparency, wile unstable democracy and threat of terrorism have made the businessoperating environment more challenging in recent years.

Furthermore, it states the judicial system of Pakistan suffers from a serious backlog, and corruption continues to taint the civil service, while excessive state involvement in the economy and restrictions on foreign investment are serious drags on economic dynamism.

The index states that India is a significant force in world trade but corruption, underdeveloped infrastructure, and poor management of public finance continue to undermine overall development

In India growth is not deeply rooted in policies that preserve economic freedom while progress on market-oriented reforms has been uneven and a restrictive regulatory environment discourages entrepreneurship.

According to the according to the editors of the Index, the world economy is moderately free with another rise in economic liberty leading to a fifth annual global increase. Among the 180 countries ranked, scores improved for 103 countries and declined for 73 (16 of which recorded their lowest Index scores ever).

The world average score of 60.9 is the highest recorded in the 23-year history of the Index. Forty-nine countries, the majority of which are developing countries, achieved their highest-ever Index scores.

Hong Kong and Singapore were ranked first and second in the rankings, while five other frequent top 10 finishers New Zealand (3rd globally), Switzerland (4th), Australia (5th), Estonia (6th) and Canada also improved their scores.

A surprise newcomer to the top 10, the United Arab Emirates took the 8th spot. Ireland (9th) and Chile (10th) saw their scores dip but still managed to round out the global top 10 ranking.

The Index of Economic Freedom documents the positive relationship between economic freedom and a variety of positive social and economic goals.

The ideals of economic freedom are strongly associated with healthier societies, cleaner environments, greater per capita wealth, human development, democracy, and poverty elimination.

Launched in 1995, the Index evaluates countries in four broad policy areas that affect economic freedom: rule of law, government size, regulatory efficiency and open markets.

There are twelve specific categories: property rights, judicial effectiveness, government integrity, tax burden, government spending, fiscal health, business freedom, labor freedom, monetary freedom, trade freedom, investment freedom, and financial freedom.

Each of the twelve economic freedoms within these categories is graded on a scale of 0 to 100. A countrys overall score is derived by averaging these twelve economic freedoms, with equal weight being given to each.

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Pakistan ranked ahead India in Economic Freedom Index report ... - ARY NEWS

I thought it prudent to respond to Jim Baileys Feb. 23 column about political correctness.

I agree that political correction has gone too far. However, a large swath of right-leaning citizens have somehow become victims in their own mind. Id like to clear up a few of his anecdotes.

Being born white, like I was, does not automatically make us racists. What makes a racist is the belief that others not of our skin color are somehow lesser. A racist may even speak that they love all peoples, yet their actions speak louder than words. Heres a good way to know whether you hold the belief that people of color are lesser: If you believe people of color use more food stamps than whites, then you hold beliefs which lend you to be racist. The facts show more whites use food stamps.

Being fiscally and morally conservative doesnt make you a fascist. Imposing those morally religious beliefs upon the rest of society in a country which espouses freedom of and from religion makes someone a fascist. Fiscal conservatism without actual fiscal responsibility is a facade, and unfortunately many on the right are guilty of this. This is fascism.

Being branded as homophobic is something that is done far too often. However, homophobes seek to impose their will, their religion, and the power of the government on the public. Many on the right dont hesitate to quote another book on the subject rather than the U.S. Constitution.

Being non-union is just fine. Its sad, however, when you see factual evidence that shows our country is strongest with a unionized workforce. For those whove lived in Anderson over the past 36 years like I have, you can see the effect the loss of all the union jobs has had.

Mr. Bailey also falls into the trap of believing all Muslims label Christians as infidels. As a columnist, he should really get his facts correct, because they matter. The holy book of Islam, the Quran, says infidels are those who dont believe in God. Christians and Jews are People of the book, and in fact Muslims view the figure of Jesus as a prophet and revere him in that way. It is important to note that the vast majority of Muslims interpret the Quran in many different ways, just like Christians interpret the Bible in many different ways. The Old Testament verses of violence far outweigh those of the Quran, and I believe it is important to render our thoughts on the actions of the believers rather than the holy book they are interpreting.

I love my country, the great United States of America, but its not perfect, and recognizing the imperfections and tribulations we have allows us to be wise. The left began eating itself last year on the plate of political correctness, so I agree that PC has gone too far. The left is notorious for being offended at absolutely everything, and this came to a head when the Democrats put up a flawed candidate for president in Hillary Clinton. Many failed to understand that being against Hillary had nothing to do with her being a woman, but nonetheless, people were called sexist. I think the true difference between right and left lies in how we govern, and it is my belief that the right, more often than not, seeks to impose religious and ideological beliefs upon people at the cost of religious and non-religious rights, civil rights, and wealth.

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Reader Viewpoint: Recognizing our imperfections, tribulations allows us to be wise - The Herald Bulletin

The Fiscal Times

The Staggering Costs of Operating Air Force One The Fiscal Times According to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Judicial Watch, the VC-25A cost a whopping $206,000 an hour to operate during a 2014 trip to Los Angeles by President Barack Obama. According to the documents, this figure included fuel, flight ... and more »

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The Staggering Costs of Operating Air Force One - The Fiscal Times

Digging out from under records requests

A couple years ago, officials in Evanston, Ill., were struggling to respond to the 600 open records requests they were getting each year. Bogged down by paperwork, they fought to answer requests within the five-business-day time frame required by statute.

Requests would be printed, and those hard copies would be distributed to appropriate staff members who would, in turn, make copies of the records requested. If the documents required legal review, more copies were made. There was a lot of copying and paperwork being distributed throughout the city, said Michelle Masoncup, deputy city attorney in Evanston.

In February 2016, the city implemented a software-as-a-service solution from NextRequest that centralized the process for handling open records requests as well as those filed under the Illinois Freedom of Information law. Requestors can now file queries directly through a portal, or they can submit them to records management staff who can scan and upload them to the system, which costs Evanston about $5,000 a year.

The portal numbers each request and sets time parameters, alerting officials when a due date is approaching or notifying them and requestors when an extension on the response time is issued.

All of that adds to efficiency and accountability and communication between the city and the requestor, which was the citys goal, Masoncup said.

Evanston received 25 percent more records requests in 2016 compared to 2015, but its tough to say whether thats because the portal makes it easier for citizens to pose queries or simply that an election is coming up in April, Masoncup said.

Fulfilling requests is still a burdensome process, she added. The portal is just a helpful service on the actual production of the documents and communication with the requestor.

Evanston is not alone in its open government challenges. Governments at all levels struggle with open records requests -- and that transparency comes at a cost.

Yakima, Wash., for example, spends about $500,000 a year responding to records requests, according to a January Yakima Herald article. Statewide, government offices spent more than $60 million fulfilling 114,000 requests.

At the federal level, agencies received 713,168 FOIA requests in fiscal 2015, according to the Justice Department, which accounted for almost 68,000 of them. The total estimated cost of all Freedom of Information Act-related activities governmentwide was about $480 million, a 4 percent increase over fiscal 2014.

Cost-cutting approaches: Third-party solutions

To address these expenses, some governments, like Evanstons, turn to a third-party help. After all, Justices Office of Information Policy FOIA guidelines encourage the use of technology to improve FOIA processes at federal agencies that receive at least 50 requests per year. It cites the FOIA Memorandum that former President Barack Obama issued Jan. 21, 2009, asking agencies to look for ways to use technology in responding to requests.

The main buzzword associated with modernizing the records requests is automation, a service that vendors are lining up to offer. For instance, Logikculls technology lets users drag and drop data of all sizes and types into its cloud-based system, which then analyzes, deduplicates and organizes the data, making it all searchable. After deploying Logikcull, Fairfax County, Va., went from a three-week response time to same-day responses, said Andy Wilson, CEO of the e-discovery and document management software firm.

Alfresco released a new digital business platform on Feb. 28 that combines content and process services with records management. The difference between the Alfresco Digital Business Platform and solutions targeting only FOIA problems is that agencies can build many types of applications on top of the platform, playing into the idea of buying once and using for many processes and that saves money, said Austin Adams, vice president of public sector at Alfresco.

Going out and solving FOIA to solve FOIAs sake is just repeating the same paradigm that created the challenge were in, Adams said. Alfresco offered in a microservices architecture in a cloud creates a really agile, tremendously flexible cost savings solution, he added.

But it could be difficult for smaller state and local entities to invest in external solutions. For example, Logikculls pricing ranges from a few thousand dollars to a few million, Wilson said. Alfrescos is available as a subscription based on the number of users.

Charging for services

As a result, there are other tactics agencies have tried to improve their FOIA processes. For instance, some charge for the records and the labor associated in collecting them. When gossip blog Gawker submitted a request for records and emails relating to the conduct of a police officer who drew a gun on an African American pool party-goer in McKinney, Texas, in 2015, the police department set the price for responding at almost $79,000.

That might be extreme, said Daniel Bevarly, executive director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition, and the result of an inefficient records response process.

I would ask what inefficiencies exist in that public agency that would create such a high cost for obtaining a public record, Bevarly said, adding that it is sensible for a government to charge reasonable costs in terms of what the fees are to provide an open records request.

Many agencies dont budget for FOIA processes, he said, but they should. This is becoming a service that really requires a quantitative measurement on the part of these public agencies to understand what the costs are involved in responding to these petitions, Bevarly said.

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Digging out from under records requests - GCN.com

News Family Planning

Feb 28, 2017, 4:34pm Nicole Knight

California's pro-choice license plates would help fund a state program providing family planning services to 1.8 million people annually and funds Planned Parenthood clinics.

Choose Life license plates in at least 15 states fund crisis pregnancy centers, or fake clinics, that lie to pregnant people and oppose a full spectrum of reproductive health choices. California legislators are bucking this trend with California Trusts Women license plates.

New legislation from state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) calls on the state Department of Motor Vehicles to issue the reproductive freedom-themed license plates once 7,500 people order them. The plates would cost$50 initially, and $40 for annual renewals. Revenues would go to theCalifornia Reproductive Freedom Fund, and bespent on a full range of health-care services for more than a millionlow-income Californians in the statesFamily Planning, Access, Care, and Treatment (Family PACT) program.

The Trump Administration and Republican Congress are threatening to cut off critical federal funding to reproductive health care services, and we will not stand idly by and let this happen, Jackson said in a statement announcing SB 309. This license plate represents one way that we can demonstrate that we will stay true to our values and the right of every woman to safe, affordable and quality reproductive health care.

The stateFamily PACT program provides family planning services to 1.8 million Californians annually and funds Planned Parenthood clinics, according to a statement from Jacksons office. The program is expected to spend an estimated $340 million on family planning services this fiscal year. Roughly 76 percent of that money comes from thefederalgovernment, according the California Department of Health Care Services.

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One state, Virginia, has enacted a license plate program that spends money on pro-choice organizations, according to NARAL Pro-Choice America. Twenty-nine states sell Choose Life license plates, and15 states divertrevenues from these specialty platestoanti-choice outfits. Other states spend the money on adoption programs or even road repairs, as Quartz recently reported.

North Carolinalast year won a court battle with the American Civil Liberties Union over Republican-led plans to issue anti-abortion license plates, as Reuters reported.The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled North Carolina couldreject pro-choice designs in favor of anti-choicelicense plates.

The California bill, which was introduced February 13, is awaiting ahearingin the Democratic-held state Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing.

In California, we support everyones right to reproductive health care, Amy Everitt, state director of NARAL Pro-Choice California, which is sponsoring the measure, said in a statement. We wont sit back when that right is threatened by a federal government that is determined to attack abortion providers and jeopardize healthcare for millions.

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California 'Trust Women' License Plates to Help Pay for Reproductive Care in Trump Era - Rewire

The Washington-based Heritage Foundation has been publishing the global Index of Economic Freedom annually since 1995 and putting the countries in order in this respect. If you ask what economic freedom is, the concept is grounded on the freedom of individuals to act as they wish in their economic preferences and the free flow of labor, capital, property and service in the country. The idea to measure the degree of this freedom stems from it being a critical element to achieving welfare.

And if you ask how this freedom is scaled, there are four equally important pillars in the Heritage index: rule of law, government size, regulatory efficiency and market openness. Under each one of these sub-indexes are three other categories, also equally significant.

Namely, the rule of law is evaluated based on property rights, government integrity and judicial effectiveness, while government size is evaluated based on government spending, tax burden and fiscal health, regulatory efficiency on business, labor and monetary freedoms and market openness on trade, investment and monetary freedoms.

An average freedom

There are 180 countries in the Index of Economic Freedom and each one of them is scored on a scale from 0 (not free) to 100 (freest). Countries with a score of 80 and above are declared free, while those in the 70s are considered mostly free. If you score in the 60s, you are moderately free, but get anything below 60 and you are considered mostly unfree, all the way down to repressed.

Based on this, while the world's 2017 index average of 60.9 indicates a record high, we see that the global economy has just made it into the average level of freedom.

Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland and Australia, countries that we are familiar with from the other relevant indexes, rank at the top. Estonia, UAE and Chile, for example, are also among the top 10 countries having the freest economies.

North Korea maintains its position as the world's most repressive economy, which we would have immediately guessed even if there were no such index. North Korea, displaying a tragic state with its single-digit score over 100, is followed on that very long path to freedom by Venezuela and Cuba in the bottom three.

We ranked 60th

There are 49 countries in the 2017 index that have achieved their best scores to date, including Turkey. Thus, we see our score, which last broke its own record in 2013 with 64.9 and later dropped to 62.1 due to the 2016 index, rose up to 65.2 in 2017. While based on this, our score is slightly above the world average, we ranked 60th among 180 countries this year. Since we were in the 79th position the previous year, there is an obvious rise.

In addition to this, within the context of Europe in which we are included with an average score of 68, we rank 29th, slightly under the average from among the 44 countries in the region. While there are many economies such as Romania, Bulgaria and Poland ranking higher than Turkey, many countries from Spain to France and Portugal to Italy are among the European economies that are not as free as us. The most critical economies among our regional neighbors are that of Ukraine, Greece and Russia.

The whys and reasons

In order to understand why our economic freedom is at an average level, we need to look at the sub-indexes.

In this context, while our best score is at the level of our government's degree of freedom, we save the day with fiscal discipline. The second positive outlook is our open market sub-index which got a score above 70.

One of the categories that drag us down to the average is regulations. In this context, it appears that the troubles especially in the labor markets have had a negative impact. The rule of law, which we have long been discussing, is the category we scored the worst in. Let this be another reminder that in this category, which dragged down our freedom with a weak score of 51.5, institutions and the judicial system await urgent remedy.

Building trust is essential

The index's data set is provided through various points and effort is made to keep the relevant dates as consistent as possible. However, the cutoff date for all the calculations in question is the end of June 2016. Hence, the index does not include the developments that took place after this date. At this point, we remember the incidents we experienced right after this date.

When we look at what happened from then until now, it is obvious that we went through grave social and economic pains. Therefore, it must be noted. Surely struggling with 1,001 different troubles is challenging, however, we must also first and foremost fix the mindset. We see certain improvements in the majority of the indexes of economic confidence. For example, one other essential matter I indicated includes repairing the faith in the country's future and brotherhood in an inclusive way during these sensitive times. A beautiful future requires institutional repairs, primarily the law. Essentially, this is what we need to pay attention to if we want to strengthen both the justice and order in the community and our position in the global sphere.

To conclude, since our goal is to boost our economy, then the economy and all its subsets need to be rendered as free, as secure and as reliable as possible.

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Economic Freedom - HATICE KARAHAN - Yeni afak - Yeni afak English

SACRAMENTO Leaders of the state Assembly and Senate on Monday sent a Freedom of Information Act request to the federal government, asking for detailed information about recent raids in California as well as for Department of Homeland Security immigration policies, including the treatment of young immigrants who entered the country illegally with their families as children.

The letter the latest in what promises to be a prolonged battle between California and the feds comes less than a week after Homeland Security released draft memos revealing an expandedpool of people it might target for deportation. The memos began to translate into policyPresident Donald Trumps executive orders for stricterimmigration enforcement and fiscal consequences for local governments with sanctuary policies.

California, meanwhile, is considering a controversial proposal to limit communication between local law enforcement officers and federal immigration agents, as well as other bills to protect or assist undocumented immigrants.

The letter from Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Paramount, and Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Len, D-Los Angeles, asks for the number of people deported to their home countries in recent weeks as well as the crimes that made them a target for deportation; whether detainees were given access to legal representation; and whether ICE agents conducted their activities near schools, hospitals, medical clinics, community centers, courts, government offices or churches.

Despite saying hed only target dangerous criminals, President Trumps executive orders target practically every undocumented person in California, said de Len in a statement. The lack of transparency by ICE is creating havoc and confusion in communities across the state and that has to change. Its time for ICE to come clean on what theyre doing and how they intend to operate going forward.

James Schwab, a spokesman for ICEs field office in San Francisco, said the agencys guidance for enforcement at so-called sensitive locations, such as churches and schools, has not changed since Trump took office. He pointed to an ICE memo from 2011 the latest directive that saysthat enforcement actions should not occur at such locations barring certain circumstances, such as imminent risk to human life or suspected terrorist activity.

Schwab said about 1,500 recipients of DACA Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals have had their status revoked as a result of criminal activity or gang affiliation since 2012. The policy, he said, is this: Aliens granted deferred action from deportation who are subsequently found to pose a threat to national security or public safety may have their deferred action terminated at any time and DHS may seek their removal from the United States.

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California lawmakers press ICE for information about raids - The Mercury News

Sprint's Going the Distance. Here's How PART 9 OF 11

In this part of the series, well look at another significant metric that helps investors understand a wireless telecoms revenue. Specifically, well look at Sprints (S) ARPU (average revenue per user). ARPU represents unit service revenues of wireless carriers such as Sprint, Verizon Communications (VZ), AT&T (T), and T-Mobile (TMUS).

Sprint is the fourth-largest US wireless carrier and is looking to improve its network to stabilize subscriber losses and ARPU. In fiscal 3Q16 (ended December 2016), Sprints postpaid ARPU fell 5.3% YoY (year-over-year) to reach $49.70, driven by a rapid shift toward the unsubsidized pricing plan.

As you can see in the above graph, postpaid ARPU has been falling sequentially since fiscal 3Q15, and this has negatively affected Sprints postpaid service revenue. According to Sprint, postpaid ARPU trends should improve in 2017 as its 50% off promotions roll-off, and the company aims to migrate those subscribers onto the more accretive Unlimited Freedom plan.

On the positive side, Sprints postpaid phone ABPU (average billings per user) continued to improve YoY during fiscal 3Q16. It rose ~1.1%, from $70.99 in fiscal 3Q15 to $71.77 in fiscal 3Q16. The main reason for this YoY rise was higher lease revenue. Sprints lease revenue rose from $0.5 billion in fiscal 3Q15 to $0.9 billion in fiscal 3Q16.

ABPU includes both service revenue and installment payments made by postpaid customers. We should note that installment billings fall under equipment revenue. Both service revenue and installment billings are relatively stable revenue streams for wireless carriers.

Notably, T-Mobiles Jump plan is an installment plan similar to Verizons Device Payment plan and AT&Ts Next plan.

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What Gives with Sprint's Declining Customer Unit? - Market Realist

By CFO Innovation Asia Staff | Monday, February 27, 2017 - 10:58

The Philippines jumped 12 spots from 70th to 58th in the 2017 Index of Economic Freedom.

The index measures the effects of policy changes on the overall quality of life. The study attributes fiscal gains, monetary stability, consumption, and government spending for the rise in the rankings.

In spite of a weak global demand in 2016-17, Philippines grew at 6.8 percent driven by an increase in investment and consumer spending.

The country was rated their highest on fiscal health (97.2) followed by government spending (89.4) as it maintained its public debt levels at 37.1 percent of gross domestic product.

Financial freedom was ranked at 60, while monetary freedom was higher at 80.6 in line with the Central Banks policies for maintaining price stability, issuing new banking licenses, and maintaining low inflation.

Reduction in cost and time for managing licensing requirements led to a gradual improvement in the business climate rankings while investment freedom witnessed no change due to investment restrictions in several sectors.

Philippines scored low in property rights, judicial effectiveness, and government integrity due to a weak state of law. The government is pursuing tax and legislative reforms to facilitate entrepreneurship, eliminate corruption and improve the ease of doing investments to attract investments and achieve a growth of eight percent by 2022.

Global growth will pick up modestly in 2017

Opportunity knocks if regional challenges can be overcome

Presenting Budget 2017, Singapore Minister for Finance Heng Swee Keat announced...

Despite a particularly challenging year on the global economic front, the...

Misaligned incentives between China's central and regional and local...

Hong Kong is again the worlds freest economy, according to the 2017 Index of...

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Philippines Improves in Economic Freedom ranking - CFO innovation ASIA