On June 11th and 12th the Lithuanian Free Market Institute hosted Vice-President of the Heritage Foundation Jack Spencer and Research Manager of the Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom Anthony B. Kim.
The Heritage Foundation representatives met with the Lithuanian government, politicians and business leaders to discuss Lithuania’s progress in the 2015 Index of Economic Freedom and reforms needed to further improve the country’s ratings. The quests attended meetings with Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevičius, Chancellor of the Government of Lithuania Alminas Mačiulis, Vice-Minister of Finance Algimantas Rimkūnas, Deputy Chair of the Bank of Lithuania Ms. Ingrida Šimonytė, advisors to the President of Lithuania, and Vilnius City Mayor Remigijus Simasius. Additionally, together with representatives of the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour, the Ministry of Finance, Invest Lithuania, LFMI policy analysts and other experts, the Heritage Foundation representatives participated in a round table discussion on Lithuania’s performance in the Index of Economic Freedom.
Lithuania ranked the 15th freest economy in the 2015 Index of Economic Freedom. Its overall score is 74.7, up by 1.7 points from last year, reflecting improvements in half of the 10 economic freedoms including freedom from corruption, the management of public spending, labor freedom, and monetary freedom. Lithuania is ranked 6th out of 43 countries in Europe and its overall score is well above the world and regional averages.
