Armenia is a leader among CIS states in the 2013 Index of Economic Freedom issued by the Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal.

Armenia’s economic freedom score is 69.4, making its economy the 38th freest in the 2013 Index.

Armenia’s overall score has increased by 0.6 point from last year, mainly reflecting the better management of public spending. Armenia is ranked 17th among the 43 countries in the Europe region, and its score puts it above the world and regional averages.

“Although Armenia performs relatively well in many categories of economic freedom, stronger foundations are needed in areas like judicial independence and government transparency. Despite progress in tackling corruption, particularly within the tax and customs administrations, the close relationships within political and business circles raise concerns about cronyism and undue influence by vested interests,” the article on Armenia reads.

Other regional states have the following rankings: Azerbaijan 88, Georgia – 21, Turkey -69, Iran – 168.

Hong Kong’s economic freedom score of 89.3 keeps it atop the Index rankings for the 19th consecutive year.