Turkey drops to 107th in economic freedom index

Turkey has dropped 31 notches to a ranking of 107th in the Index of Economic Freedom 2022, falling into the category of "mostly unfree" countries.

Friday February 18 2022 03:58 pm

Duvar English

The Washington-based Heritage Foundation’s 2022 Index of Economic Freedom ranks Turkey 107th among 177 nations in terms of economic freedom.

From 76th last year, the country dropped 31 notches in the 2022 index, which measures economic freedom based on 12 factors grouped into four broad categories.

These include rule of law (property rights, government integrity, judicial effectiveness); government size (government spending, tax burden, fiscal health); regulatory efficiency (business freedom, labor freedom, monetary freedom) and open markets (trade freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom).

Turkey’s overall score is 56.9 out of 100 in the index, which classifies it as a ‘mostly unfree’ country. This score is below both Europe (69.5) and the world's average (60).

"Turkey is a constitutionally secular republic, but President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) has pursued an Islamist agenda and has eroded democracy," the reports says.

"In 2021, the economy enjoyed significant growth, but that growth came in part after a currency devaluation driven by artificially low interest rates that affected price stability," it further says.

In January, inflation jumped to nearly 50% after a currency crash late last year triggered by Erdoğan's unorthodox low interest rate policy, raising the cost of living for Turks already struggling to make ends meet. The independent inflation group ENAG put the figure at 114.87 percent.