Survey of economic freedoms ranks Belize at 115

A recent survey indicating the economic freedoms of countries around the world ranks Belize at number one hundred and fifteen of one hundred and seventy-eight reviewed.    With a score of fifty-six point seven, Belize succeeds Brazil on the 2014 index, and is categorized as mostly unfree.  To put its rating into perspective, Belize is twenty-first out of twenty-nine countries in South and Central America, as well as the Caribbean.  According to the report, the gains achieved in trade freedom and the area of government size that measures fiscal freedom and government spending have been outweighed by substantial declines in investment freedom, property rights, and freedom from corruption, all of which have declined considerably over the past twenty years.  This latest rating is Belize’s lowest, with the judicial system being cited as inefficient and vulnerable to political influence.