The Kingdom has achieved a score of 7.93 out of 10 points in the Fraser Institute’s annual report on economic freedom in 2013. Saudi Arabia is thus ahead of the United States, which ranked 17th, and Japan, which ranked 25th.

The Fraser Institute is a Canadian think tank that attempts to measure the degree of economic freedom in the world’s nations.

The top ten was led by Hong Kong ranked with 8.97 points, followed by Singapore 8.73, New Zealand 8.59, Switzerland 8.30, the UAE 8.07, Mauritius 8.01, Finland 7.91 and Australia 7.88.

Bahrain and the UAE are considered to be in the forefront of Arab and GCC countries in terms of economic freedom. Qatar follows their lead with 7.62 points, and then come Oman 7.31, Kuwait 7.22 and Saudi Arabia 7.14.

The rapid population growth and focused investments in economic diversification will further boost the size and significance of the Saudi economy.

Saudi Arabia is a highly open economy given its dependence on oil exports and a wide range of imports. It is therefore a key advocate of free trade and investment in a globalized world.

Saudi Arabia is one of the best performing, rapidly growing economies in the G20, according to the Entrepreneurship Barometer 2013, thanks to its laudable efforts to reform its overall business environment in recent years.

Fadal Abu Ainain, an economic expert and financial adviser to private companies, told Arab News: “Foreign investments in the Kingdom have been facilitated by the Saudi government that established investment bodies to deal with foreign investors and remove all obstacles that can complicate procedures to find licenses.”

The Kingdom has taken many procedures to create a proper environment to attract foreign investments. There are many projects in the oil and infrastructure field that could attract investments of international companies, he added.