Russia's ranking in terms of economic freedom has dropped from 140th to 143rd place this year, U.S. research group The Heritage Foundation reported in their 2015 Index of Economic Freedom.
The annual index, released on Tuesday, rates 186 countries' 10 basic freedoms — from property rights to entrepreneurship.
Russia's overall score has actually improved by 0.2 points since last year, with gains in business freedom, freedom from corruption and labor freedom. But the gains were offset by declines compared to other countries in monetary freedom, property rights, and the management of government spending, the authors wrote in a note attached to the rating.
Russia was ranked 41st out of 43 countries in Europe, and its overall economic freedom score was below the world average.
Although Russia has seen some improvement in five out of 10 basic freedoms, its investment and financial freedom have stayed flat for the last three years.
Eliminating barriers to investors in Russia has been high on the government's agenda, following President Vladimir Putin's directive in 2012 to raise the country's ranking on the internationally respected World Bank's "Doing Business Rating."
The efforts seemed to have borne fruit last year as Russia rose 19 positions in the World Bank's "Doing Business" rating, finishing 92nd out of 189 countries.
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