Iran's Economic Freedom Ranking Among Lowest In The World
Iran's economic freedom ranking for 2023 has placed it at a dismal 160 out of 165 countries surveyed, Canada’s leading think tank said in its latest report.
Iran's economic freedom ranking for 2023 has placed it at a dismal 160 out of 165 countries surveyed, Canada’s leading think tank said in its latest report.
The Fraser Institute, in its latest Economic Freedom of the World report, measured the extent to which a country's policies and institutions support economic freedom, with data from 2021 serving as the basis for the 2023 assessment.
With a paltry score of 4.53 out of 10, Iran shares the lowly position with Libya, outpacing only Yemen, Sudan, Syria, Zimbabwe, and Venezuela in terms of economic liberties. The other low-ranking countries all countries all have “brotherly” ties with the Islamic Republic.
Before the establishment of the Islamic regime, Iran stood at the 32nd position or the second quartile of all states at the time. The country leaped 10 steps from 42 in 1970 to 32 in 1975. Right after the 1979 revolution, Iran's ranking plummeted to the 89th place in 1980.
The number one spot is now occupied by Singapore, followed by Hong Kong, Switzerland, New Zealand, the United States, Ireland, Denmark, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada.
The Fraser Institute's annual assessment of economic freedom is measured in five broad areas: size of the government, legal system and property rights, sound monetary policy, freedom to trade internationally, and regulations. The research organization says the cornerstones of economic freedom are personal choice, voluntary exchange, freedom to enter markets and compete, and security of the person and privately-owned property, all of whom lagging behind the international standards.
The size of the Iranian government has been a central concern for the regime in recent years, leading to the launch of various initiatives under the banner of "building organizational agility" within state bodies. Unfortunately, these plans have failed to produce tangible results, primarily because the workers who should be laid off or redundant offices that should be removed are connected to influential figures within the regime.
As government spending, taxation, and the size of government-controlled enterprises continue to grow, government decision-making takes precedence over individual choice, resulting in a reduction in economic freedom. Yet, this factor achieved Iran's highest score among the five categories, with a rating of 6.59 out of 10, placing Iran at 79th in this area.
In terms of the legal system and property rights, which measure protection of persons and their property, Iran scored 3.26. “If property is not secure, if individuals are not safe, if the judiciary is not impartial, or if the rule of law is undermined, then, again, economic freedom is reduced,” the Fraser institute says.
Iran’s monetary policy received a score of 5.90 in the category of Sound Money, essential for safeguarding property rights. The report highlights that when inflation is not only high but also volatile, individuals find it challenging to plan for the future, hindering the effective use of economic freedom. Approximately a year ago, Iran's rial was trading at around 300,000 to the dollar, but in early May, it dropped to as low as 550,000. Currently, it stands above 490,000. This drastic devaluation of the rial illustrates the severity of inflation in Iran. In July, a lawmaker stated that the annual inflation rate was 120 percent, contrary to the 60 or 70 percent figures cited by various politicians and academics. According to World Bank figures from June, Iran's food inflation rate stood at 78 percent.
Iran received its lowest score in the Freedom for International Trade category, with a rating of 2.39, the lowest among the 165 countries assessed by the Fraser Institute. The institute emphasizes that the essence of economic freedom lies in the freedom to exchange, which is hindered when government barriers to trade make it costly or even impossible to engage in commerce with businesses and individuals in other nations. Due to US sanctions, only a limited number of countries are willing to establish trade ties with Iran, risking retaliation from Washington and further isolating Iran.
Although remarks by the defense ministry’s spokesman did not mention the two neighboring countries, currently perceived threats from Azerbaijani to invade southern Armenia bordering Iran is the only critical issue in the region.
“We have announced that we will not permit any border changes in the region. In some of our border points, they wanted to make alterations, but they did not dare and will not dare,” ministry’s spokesman Gen. Reza Talainik (Tala-ee-nik) was quoted as saying by Fars news website affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC). He added that when Iran shouts borders should not change, it means it relies on certain bases of support, such as its military power.
After losing a war fought on Azerbaijani territory in 2020, Armenia has become vulnerable to a possible invasion in the south by its more powerful neighbor. In such a scenario, Iran will lose a safe land corridor to the north, through Georgia to Russia. Tehran has repeatedly warned it will not tolerate such a move by Azerbaijan and has sent additional forces to the border to make its point.
Earlier on Sunday, Gen. Kyumars Haydari, commander of the Iranian army’s ground forces told the local media that they have stationed ten brigades in critical border regions, including the area near Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Gen. Haydari did not clarify if these forces all belonged to Iran’s traditional army or also include unites from the Revolutionary Guard’s ground forces. He also did not provide a numerical estimate of the forces, but a brigade is usually around 3,000-4,000 troops. He said that these brigades are stationed in the northwest, west, southwest, and northeast to confront “enemies”. Iran has been projecting military power along its borders with Iraq to deter what it calls separatist Kurds using Iraqi territory as a base, and also against the Taliban in the east, in addition to Azerbaijan.
The defense ministry spokesman Talainik also spoke about Iran’s Qassem ballistic missile, calling it an “Israel-busting” weapon. The missile was first unveiled in July 2020 with a range of 1,400-1,800 kilometers. It is believed to be a newer version of the Fateh-100 missile. It is named after Qassem Soleimani, the Iranian regime’s operative in the Middle East who was killed in a targeted US air strike in Baghdad in January 2020.
Incidentally, Israel has been supplying weapons to Azerbaijan and the Islamic Republic has often voiced its dissatisfaction with Baku, accusing its neighbor of allowing Israelis to use its territory against Iran.
Talainik also claimed that “no equation in the Middle East is manageable without Iran's role, because of the country's defensive power.” However in the past three years two Persian Gulf Arab countries, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have made peace with Israel and Saudi Arabia is also moving toward that direction, despite Iran’s opposition.
The United States in July dispatched additional warplanes and naval forces to the region, warning Iran not to interfere with maritime traffic, after it stopped or harassed more than 15 commercial vessels in the past two years.
The hacker group Ghiyam ta Sarnegouni (Uprising till Overthrow) which is affiliated to the People's Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MEK) made the announcement Saturday, the first day of the new academic year in Iran and said it had acquired access to over 20,000 documents.
Some of the documents hackers have published on their Instagram and Telegram accounts are related to purging academics who are critical of the government or have supported the Women, Life, Freedom movement.
The purge has opened the way for hiring 15,000 pro-regime professors and other staff in universities. Authorities also plan to adopt new student selection procedures and expelling thousands of students who have been part of the protest movement. They have even greenlighted the acceptance of Iraq’s Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi militias and other proxies in Iranian universities.
The ministry’s public relations in a statement Saturday claimed “vigilant technical experts” had managed to repel the cyber-attack and shut down the ministry’s website temporarily to investigate the incident.
In the past year, MEK-affiliated hackers have targeted the portals of several other government agencies including Tehran Municipality, the state broadcasting corporation (IRIB), the Presidential Office, and the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Agriculture, and Islamic Guidance and published thousands of documents.
A "very confidential” document published by hackers this time reveals the proceedings of a Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution meeting including demographic data about last year’s nationwide protests based on data from intelligence agencies, including the Ministry of Intelligence and the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Intelligence Organization (SAS).
Dated October 5, 2022, approximately three weeks after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in custody sparked nationwide anti-government protests, the document emphasizes that 82 percent of detainees in the first two weeks of the protests were teenagers and young people under the age of thirty, with men comprising the majority at 88 percent of all detainees.
The document also states that authorities had no records related to 93 percent of detainees and that protesters promoted civil disobedience in places such as bazaars, metros and city buses. According to the same document, “hatred towards the Islamic Republic, hostility and civil disobedience” had been observed among protesters.
In a classified letter to President Ebrahim Raisi that hackers claim to have accessed, Higher Education Minister Mohammad-Ali Zolfigol says some university chancellors were reluctant to cooperate with security bodies in suppressing the students and that some academic officials who had signed statements against such measures had been fired.
Zolfigol said in the letter that Sharif University of Technology, one of the top universities in Iran, “had come completely under the control of rioters” and added that the National Security Council (NSC) and Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) officially demanded the chancellor of the university to be sacked.
Sharif University required “fundamental changes” without which it could not be controlled if there was more unrest in the future, the minister said in his letter to the President.
Students in at least 150 universities across Iran held protests during last year’s several-month-long unrest and in many cases were supported by their professors. Documents acquired by hackers from the IRGC-affiliated Fars News Agency in December indicated that at least 51% of the students at state universities had participated in Women, Life, Freedom protests.
The recent purge of academia in Iranian universities dubbed as ‘the second cultural revolution’ has shaken many Iranians who are already grappling with various pressures. The purge comes amid loss of hope in improvement of the country’s circumstances, including its economy, relations with the international community and removal of sanctions, as well as even relative social and political freedoms.