The Heritage Foundation publishes an annual Index of Economic Freedom ranking countries and territories for how business-friendly their regulations and laws are.
The city's Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang confirmed that criticism of the Chinese Communist Party could also be a disqualifying factor.
Bitcoin pushed to a new record of $47,492.93 after getting a huge boost from news that Elon Musk's electric carmaker Tesla had invested $1.5 billion in the cryptocurrency and said it would soon accept it as payment.
The dollar advanced to a near one-week high against a basket of currencies, as volatility in stock markets around the globe sapped investors' appetite for riskier currencies.
The move comes as Hong Kong has lagged other developed cities in rolling out vaccines and with mainland China having started its vaccine program in July last year.
Protests in 2019 and later the novel coronavirus pandemic in 2020 have battered the city's economy, with full year gross domestic product (GDP) forecast to contract 6.1%.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said at a press briefing on Tuesday that social distancing measures due to expire this week will be extended in a bid to contain the outbreak.