Government happy with Cape Verde’s rating

28/01/2010

The communiqué issued by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs explains that Cape Verde has remained in first place among the 15 Economic Community of West African states (ECOWAS) member countries, and rose 0.5 points on the ranking since last year, despite having dropped one slot on the list of countries enjoying the greatest degree of economic freedom.

The Index of Economic Freedom is elaborated on a yearly basis and is aimed at measuring countries’ progress regarding reforms and freedom in the economy, including fiscal areas, government spending, monetary freedom and security and investment safety.

In this year’s index, Cape Verde fell from 77th to 78th place, but showed a total of 61.8 points up 0.5 points from 2009, leading the government to affirm that the results prove that the reforms taking place in public administration are “having a positive impact.”

Cape Verde occupies seventh place in terms of Africa, with a result “much higher than the average” for the continent. The government states, however, that a “more substantial improvement” is expected in the next index, as the impact of other reforms currently under way was not visible in the 2010 report.