HONG KONG -- Hong Kong has lost its position as the world's freest economy to Singapore, according to an index compiled by Montreal-based Fraser Institute, which attributed the fall largely to the erosion of impartiality in the Chinese city's legal system and judiciary.
Hong Kong dominated the independent Canadian think tank's "Economic Freedom of the World" report for over two decades, but in the 2023 edition released on Tuesday, the city's overall score fell by 0.07 points. This was due to a decrease in judicial independence, impartial courts and legal integrity, and an increase in military interference based on the latest available data collected in 2021.
