Pakistan slightly improves in 2018 global corruption index

Dunya News

The indexuses a scale of zero to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean

(Web Desk) – According to data released by transparency international, Pakistan has made a slight improvement in theCorruption Perception Index (CPI) 2018’ by scoring 33/100 with one point better as compared to previous year s 32/100.

The country’s ranking of 117 out of 180 countries could not be changed this year.

Transparency International Pakistan Chairman Sohail Muzaffer releasing CPI index 2018 said " Pakistan has to act seriously for eradication of corruption across the country. Country s economy can be not improved till this termite is tackled."

He further went on to say that all those who are involved in corruption should be given exemplary punishment and the concerned authorities should be made able to prosecute corrupt elements easily after strengthening anti-corruption laws.

"Corruption chips away at democracy to produce a vicious cycle, where corruption undermines democratic institutions and, in turn, weak institutions are less able to control corruption" said Patricia Moreira Managing Director (MD) Transparency International.

The index, which ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople, uses a scale of zero to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.

However, more than two-thirds of countries score below 50 on this year’s CPI, with an average score of just 43.

While there are exceptions, the data shows that despite some progress, most countries are failing to make serious inroads against corruption.

The top countries are Denmark and New Zealand with scores of 88 and 87, respectively. The bottom countries are Somalia, Syria and South Sudan with scores of 10, 13 and 13, respectively.

In the last seven years, only 20 countries significantly improved their CPI scores, including Estonia, Senegal, Guyana and Côte D’Ivoire.

Equally troubling, 16 countries significantly decreased their scores, including Australia, Chile, Malta, Hungary and Turkey.