Hong Kong is world's freest economy

Hong Kong has been ranked the freest economy in the world for the 10th consecutive year in the '2004 Index of Economic Freedom,' released on Friday by the Washington-based think tank The Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal.

Hong Kong's strengths, as cited by the report, are duty-fee port, very low level of government involvement in business activities, very low inflation, very low barriers to foreign investment, strong property rights and low level of informal market activity among others.

In the annually published index, Singapore and New Zealand were ranked the second and third freest economies, respectively.

Henry Tang, financial secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government, said he was pleased to see that Hong Kong remained the freest economy in the world.

He said the HKSAR government was firmly committed to maintaining Hong Kong as a free market economy that accord maximum scope to the private sector.

"We see the role of the government as that of a facilitator that provides a business-friendly environment where all firms can compete on a level-playing field," Tang was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

The heritage foundation began to co-publish the index with the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal in 1995.