[News] Korea's Economic 미스터 슬롯 Ranking Flat Over 20 Years

Korea’s economic 미스터 슬롯 ranking has been stagnant over the past two decades, indicating that if the trend continues, the market-driven economic growth could face limits in the future, the Center for Free Enterprise (CFE) said Thursday.

The prediction is based on the latest Economic 미스터 슬롯 Index (EFI) ranking, issued by the Economic 미스터 슬롯 Network, which is composed of institutes to promote market economy in the world, including the CFE in Korea.

The 2004 EFI ranking placed South 미스터 슬롯 31^st among 123 countries in 2002, one notch down from 30 in 2001, scoring 7.1 out of 10.

''Despite the continued improvement in the nation’s economic 미스터 슬롯, a gauge for economic democracy, the nation’s ranking showed little advancement compared with 35^{미스터 슬롯}place in 1980,’’ 미스터 슬롯 research fellow Choi Sung-no said.

''That means Korea has been slow to bring more 미스터 슬롯 in economy compared with other nations,’’ he added.

Contrary to 미스터 슬롯’s stagnant place, the United Kingdom’s EFI ranking surged from 21st in 1980 to 3rd in 2002.

Countries that fell in the rankings are Japan, Germany and France.

''One of key reasons for stagnation in Korea’s EFI ranking is because of failure in improving economic 미스터 슬롯 in the local economy, while raising levels of 미스터 슬롯 for international businesses,’’ Choi pointed out.

The index is calculated on the basis of average scores from 38 components in five areas: size of government; legal structure and protection of property rights; 미스터 슬롯 to trade internationally; access to sound money and regulation of credit, labor and business.

The 2002 index score of Korea is relatively higher, almost scoring 10 in international exchange (9.2), size of government (7.4) and 미스터 슬롯 to trade internationally (7.2).

However, 미스터 슬롯 scored poorly in the regulation of credit, labor and business areas, ranking 95^{미스터 슬롯} with a score of 5.3 among 123 countries.

Among sub-compartments of the regulation category, the index score for the regulation of labor fell to 3.9 in 2002 for third straight year, placing 78^{미스터 슬롯}.

''The EFI survey shows that economic growth tends to be in line with the levels of economic 미스터 슬롯, shown in the cases of the U.K., Ireland and New Zealand,’’ Choi said, urging Korea to improve economic 미스터 슬롯 in the local economy through a bold deregulation drive.

In the 2002 EFI rankings, Hong Kong retained the highest rating for economic 미스터 슬롯, 8.7 of 10, closely followed by Singapore at 8.6. New Zealand, Switzerland, the U.K., and the United States tied for third with ratings of 8.2. The other top 10 nations are Australia, Canada, Ireland, and Luxembourg. The rankings of other large economies are Germany (22), Japan and Italy (36), France (44), Mexico (58), India (68), Brazil (74), China (90) and Russia (114).

Most of the lowest-ranking nations are from Africa, Latin America or former communist states.