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A worker displays a newly minted 10.000 New Zealand Dollars gold investment coin with the portrait of Czech princess and English Good Queen Anne in Czech Mint in Jablonec nad Nisou November 30, 2011. REUTERS/David W Cerny

New Zealand has been ranked third in the Index of Economic Freedom for 2015. The global index is prepared and published every year by the Heritage Foundation.

Hong Kong had retained its ranking in the top spot as the world’s freest economy while Singapore came in second. 3News reports that New Zealand had improved its previous top 5 spot to third place. According to the foundation, New Zealand had moved up in the index due to improvements in management of government spending and monetary freedom.

New Zealand’s labour freedom outweighed the declining scores in fiscal freedom, business freedom and freedom from corruption. Heritage Foundation explained that the country’s economic development in the past few decades is built on the principles of free trade and an open market.

New Zealand reforms in the 1980s had allowed the economy to be open for imports. The government’s size was also reduced along with the tax burden. The changes New Zealand implemented in the recent decades had helped strengthen the country’s position as one of the freest economies in the world.

The country also has low poverty rates and a high standard of living. New Zealand has been also hailed as one of the least corrupt nations in the world. Intellectual property and property rights are strongly protected.

Australia was ranked fourth in the economic freedom index after New Zealand. The country’s score was lower by 0.6 in the current ranking but improved in monetary and labour freedom. Despite the decline in overall freedom in the last five years, the Australian economy continues to perform well in most of the 10 economic freedoms assessed by the foundation.

Banking regulations in Australia are sensible with a well-maintained monetary stability. Corruption in the country has been “minimal” and the country ensures strong protection of property rights.

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong government has welcomed the results of the newly released report. According to the South China Morning Post, a spokesman for the government said the country will continue to uphold a clean society with an efficient public sector, rule of law and simple tax system with low tax rates.

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