MANILA- The Philippines went up twelve notches in an annual index of economic freedom by a top American think tank.

The Heritage Foundation said the country rose to the 58th spot this year from 70th in 2016 due to the “notable successes in fiscal policy, government spending and monetary stability.”

In its latest annual global survey, the Heritage Foundation said the country’s economic freedom score advanced to 65.6, a 2.5-point increase from its 2016 Index of Economic Freedom (IEF) score. The score is higher than the world average of 60.9 and the Asia-Pacific region average of 60.4.

“The Philippines has achieved notable economic expansion, driven by the economy’s strong export performance and inflows of remittances,” the report said.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the jump “validates the assiduous efforts by the Philippine government to sustain high growth and achieve economic inclusion by freeing some six million Filipinos from poverty.”

The country’s gross domestic product accelerated to 6.8 percent in 2016 on the back of higher investment and robust public and private consumption. Remittances, meanwhile, reached $29.7 billion in 2016, or a 4.9 percent increase from the year-ago level, exceeding the Bangko Sentral’s projected growth of 4.0 percent for the year.

Positive investor sentiment, sustained by the country’s strong growth momentum, pushed foreign direct investments to $7 billion in the first eleven months of 2016, 25.4 percent higher than the $5.6 billion posted in the same period in 2015.

In 2017, the Philippines obtained the biggest gain in monetary freedom posting an 18-notch improvement in its ranking to 68th from 86th. The country also received very high ranking on Government Spending (22/186) and Fiscal Health (26/186).

Bangko Sentral Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said the benign inflation environment has enabled the economy to further accelerate in 2016, given the uncertainty and volatility in the global scene.

The IEF is an annual index and ranking created by The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal in 1995 to measure the degree of economic freedom in the world's nations.