According to the 2010 International Property Rights Index (IPRI) released on Tuesday, South Africa has retained its position at number 24 out of 125 countries measured.
The index is prepared annually from a study conducted by a Hernando de Soto, Fellow at the Washington-based Property Rights Alliance.
It is supported by sixty-two partner organisations worldwide, including SA's FMF.
Free Market Foundation (FMF) Executive Director says: "SA is in the top 20% of countries measured in this study and this bodes well for the future if the rating improves or even remains at this level, which it needs to do if SA is to fulfil its promise of being one of the world's high growth countries.
"SA has shown that it has the potential to grow and prosper.
"All it needs is the continued application of policies, such as respect for property rights, which have been shown to play a crucial role in bringing about economic growth."
In 2009, SA shared its position on the index with Spain and South Korea.
This year they are joined by Qatar and Taiwan. Botswana is at number 44 on the index, while Mauritius is at 46 and Ghana at 59.
The top five countries on the index are Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands and Norway.
Legal and political environment (LP), Physical Property Rights (PPR) and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) are the three components that are measured in the compilation of the index.
SA's scores were LP 5.7 (out of 10) coming out at number 45, while on PPR its score was 7.4 and came out at number 22 and on IPR it scored 7.4 coming out at number 20.
Its overall IPRI score was 6.8 making it number 24.
IPRI is yet another index on which the high crime rate pulls SA down.
Source: I-Net Bridge
Publisher: I-Net Bridge
Source: I-Net Bridge
