By the Caribbean Journal staff

St Lucia has the most economic freedom of any country in the Caribbean, according to a report released by the US-based Heritage Foundation in partnership with The Wall Street Journal.

The 2012 Index of Economic Freedom, which looks at a series of factors, including the rule of law, limited government, regulatory efficiency and open markets, found St Lucia to be number one in the region, followed by Barbados.

The report comes a few months after St Lucia similarly ranked first in the region for ease of doing business in a World Bank report.

St Lucia ranked 24th in the world, just after Lithuania and ahead of Qatar.

The foundation cited improvements in monetary, investment and labour freedom, offset by what it called “deterioration in the control of government spending and business freedom.”

St Lucia has “long benefited from a well-developed legal and commercial infrastructure and a tradition of entrepreneurial dynamism in the private sector,” the report said.

See below for the complete Caribbean rankings: