Macedonia 31st place in the Heritage Foundation 2017 Economic Freedom Index and its progress for 10 points for only one decade is astonishing and something not seen elsewhere, Ambassador Terry Miller, Director of the Center for International Trade and Economics at the Heritage Foundation, said Wednesday at a presentation of the report in Skopje.

The Heritage Foundation has been monitoring Macedonia since 2002, when the situation was not ideal, Miller said, pointing out that the first progress was registered in 2006-2007.

'The graphic design's tendency looks dramatic. This is a 10-point climb for the last ten years. I've never seen anything similar elsewhere. It is an indicator of how Macedonia has been achieving results through the history. You have been independent for 25 years and your economic results for the last 10 years are phenomenal,' Miller said.

When a country's population is committed to reforms it is capable to do almost everything - the sky is the limit, he added.

There is no obstacle for Macedonia to join the list of ten best countries in terms of economic freedom, said Anthony Kim, Research Manager at the Heritage Foundation.

Finance Minister Kiril Minovski considers that Macedonia's Economic Freedom Index ranking is rather beneficial for the country as it explores significant criteria for investors, such as property rights, government integrity, business freedom, trade freedom, investment freedom...

Macedonia's progress is a result of the government's hard work, VMRO-DPMNE leader Nikola Gruevski said.

The Heritage Foundation evaluated Macedonia as mostly free. No other SEE country has reached this level in this year's edition.

The index explores twelve criteria in four main areas - Rule of law, Government size, Regulatory efficiency, and Open markets. On the basis of these criteria every country accumulates scores, according to which it is defined as economically 'free', 'mostly free', 'moderately free', 'mostly unfree', and 'repressed'.

Under the term 'economic freedom' the foundation understands the fundamental right of every human to control his or her own labour and property, to work, produce, consume, and invest freely. The annual study and ranking compare the entrepreneurial environment of 186 countries worldwide.