Is Ukraine More Repressed than Belarus?
Friday, January 22nd, 2010
According to Heritage Foundation, a US conservative think tank, Belarus has more freedom than Ukraine. Belarus is ranked as 150 out of 179 countries in the Index of Economic Freedom. According to the report, business, trade and fiscal freedoms as well as government spending has improved in Belarus. However, the situation with corruption in Belarus has deteriorated.
It is not surprising that Belarus ranked low in the Heritage Foundation’s list. It is very surprising that the “last dictatorship in Europe” has more freedom than Ukraine. Both countries are classified as “repressed”. Belarus, that for the first time in many years has been ranked as not most repressed country in Europe Although some may see it as a sign of real improvements in Belarus, the methodology of such ranking is very questionable.
Granted, recently Belarus has undertaken a few steps to liberalize the economy, but still it has by far less freedom than Ukraine. Unlike Belarus, Ukraine has been recognized as a market economy both by the European Union and the United States, and it is likely to be a member of the World Trade Organization soon. Although on the corruption issue Ukraine may indeed have more problems than Belarus, the share of private sector in the Ukrainian economy there is much greater than in Belarus, where the Belarusian state controls most of the economy.
