Everyone knows perfectly well that a country’s level of corruption is a major factor a foreign investor considers when evaluating the coutry’s investment attractiveness. Today, when the entire world is on the verge of another major crisis, with some countries already experiencing it, the attraction of new investments becomes a matter of life and death.
Amid this global uncertainty, Transparency International released its Corruption Perceptions Index 2011.
Let’s find out whether this index by Transparency International contains important info or not.
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About Corruption Perceptions Index 2011
On Dec 1st 2011 Transparency International released its Corruption Perceptions Index 2011 for 183 countries of the world.
What do we know about TI? The official website goes: “Transparency International, the global civil society organisation leading the fight against corruption…” You can read the full text here. It has been releasing its annual index since 1995.
What is corruption for TI? The official website says: “Corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. It hurts everyone whose life, livelihood or happiness depends on the integrity of people in a position of authority.”
What is Corruption Perceptions Index? Each country in the list is credited with a certain amount of points, which determines its standing in the rating from #1 (the best) to #183 (the worst).
This is what the site says: “The CPI ranks countries/territories based on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to be. It is a composite index, a combination of polls, drawing on corruption-related data collected by a variety of reputable institutions. The CPI reflects the views of observers from around the world, including experts living and working in the countries/territories evaluated.”
How can a country improve its rating? Any progress in this field is taken into account. For example, Russia moved a few levels up due to several amendments to its anti-corruption legislation (including huge fines, tougher sanctions etc.) and its desire to join the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention.
According to Huguette Labelle, Chair of TI, the political leaders around the world should respond to the people’s demand for better public administration.
Corruption Perceptions Index 2011:
The list of the least corrupted countries has been unchanged over the last 5 years. New Zealand is the frontrunner once again (9.5 points). It is followed by Denmark , Finland (9.4 pts), Sweden , Singapore, Norway, Netherlands, Australia, Switzerland and Canada.
High achievers. The USA comes 24th in the rating (7,1pts). The 2nd and 3rd dozen include: Great Britain – 7,8, France – 7, Spain – 6,2 and other EU countries. However, Italy received only 3,9pts thus finding itself even below Turkey (4,2pts).
Average “scorers”. BRIC countries – Brazil, India, China - are number 73, 95 and 75 correspondingly. Most East European countries have higher standings: Poland –41, Hungary – 54, Turkey – 61, Slovakia – 66, Romania – 75.
Ex-USSR countries. Russia improved its position from #154 up to #143. Belarus and Azerbaijan come next with the same index. Kazakhstan Armenia and Moldova stand a little higher with 2,7, 2,6 and 2,9 points correspondingly. Ukraine and Tajikistan lag behind Russia by 1 point (2,3pts). Kyrgyzstan is number 164, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan come 177th (1.6pts). Among all the ex-USSR states, there are mere frontrunners: Baltic states (Lithuania - 4,8, Latvia - 4,2, Estonia - 6,4) and Georgia (4,1).
What is so surprising about Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index 2011?
The experts of have found many surprising things in the corruption rating:
1. How did TI’s experts, who work in 100 countries around the world, manage to gather all the necessary data for 183 countries (including surveys and interviews)?
2. It would be very interesting to know whom they interviewed in such “friendly” countries as Afghanistan, Myanmar, Somali, Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and other countries with military regimes.
3. Who can guarantee the respondents’ loyalty and objectivity. It well maybe that all the respondents are dissatisfied with the current authorities and consequently can be biased.
4. Bribe Payers Index. The preceding rating released by TI on Nov 2nd 2011 suggests that Russia is number 1. It appears that Russian businessmen give a lot of bribes abroad. Then who takes them? Probably, they are not Africans.
5. As for the frontrunners, it is said that the anticorruption legislation in those countries is very tough. Ok, then try to explain how China, where bribers are sentenced to death, can be number 75 in Corruption Perceptions Index 2011!
6. Another (and the most striking) thing: How can North Korea, an absolutely totalitarian state with no free enterprise, be among the outsiders of Corruption Perceptions Index 2011? May be the USSR under Joseph Stalin was corruption-ridden as well?!
Think about it…
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