Bulgaria has turned into a more economically free state to conduct business since the beginning of the year, according to a report published on Tuesday.

The Fraser Institute's Freedom of the World report for 2011 showed Bulgaria has climbed up to spot 28, a far cry from number 60 as ranked by the Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal at the beginning of the year.

The Fraser Institute's Freedom of the World report assesses individual countries according to 42 criteria including the percentage of the economy accounted for by Government activity, the presence of price controls, the legal structure and security of property rights, the freedom to trade, and the regulation of credit and business.

The main reason for Bulgaria's better performance is the access to safe and stable money and in particular the indicators linked to inflation. In 2009, when the crisis hit hardest Bulgaria, inflation ranged between 2-3%, while during the previous year of rapid growth it exceeded 10%, experts have commented.

Bulgaria also saw a better score in terms of the size of government, which means that now it has lower government spending, fewer state-owned companies, lower taxes and stable money.

Bulgaria's better ranking however is also thanks to the decline of economic freedom in other countries, which increased the government intervention in the economy in a bid to tackle the crisis.

Hong Kong was again ranked first for economic freedom, followed by Singapore and New Zealand. The United States experienced one of the largest drops in economic freedom, falling to 10th place overall from sixth in 2010.

The report found that overall levels of economic freedom decreased around the globe.

This year's report shows that the average economic freedom score fell to 6.64 in 2009, the lowest in nearly three decades, from 6.67 in 2008.