Pakistan

Pakistan only SAARC country to improve Corruption Perception Index

CPI score increased by one point to 30 and ranking improved by 3

APP January 27, 2016

PHOTO: REUTERS

ISLAMABAD:

The Transparency International (TI) maintained on Tuesday that Pakistan was the only country among the five member states of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) that improved its Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) score.

The rest of the four countries — India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh — scored the same or scored less as compared to the score in 2014, the TI said in its report on the CPI 2015, which is scheduled to be formally launched on Wednesday (today).

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In a statement, TI Pakistan Chairman Sohail Muzaffar said the CPI score for Pakistan this year had again increased by one point to 30, while its rank improved by three.

“Pakistan should have performed better, which can be achieved by having on-ground measures for the implementation of zero tolerance for corruption,” he added.

He hoped the government would take serious steps to implement the recommendations of TI Pakistan which might result in marked reduction in corruption and much better CPI in future.

The index covered perceptions of public sector corruption in 168 countries. The CPI-2015 showed that people working together can succeed in the battle against corruption.

Corruption crackdown

“Although corruption is still rife globally, more countries improved their scores in the 2015 edition of Transparency International’s CPI than declined,” the statement said.

Overall, two-thirds of the 168 countries on the 2015 index scored below 50, on a scale from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 100 (perceived to be very clean).

Denmark took the top spot for the 2nd year running, while North Korea and Somalia turned out to be the worst performers, scoring just 8 points each.

Brazil was the bigger decliner in the index, falling 5 points and dropping 7 positions to a rank of 76. The other major decliners include Libya, Australia, Spain and Turkey while the big improvers include Greece, Senegal and United Kingdom.

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While their points declined in 2015, citizen activists in places like Guatemala, Sri Lanka and Ghana worked hard to drive out the corrupt, sending a strong message that should encourage others to take decisive action in 2016, said the statement.

The CPI is based on expert opinions of public sector corruption.

The countries’ scores can be helped by open government where the public can hold leaders to account, while a poor score is a sign of prevalent bribery, lack of punishment for corruption and public institutions that do not respond to citizens’ needs.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2016.

COMMENTS (27)

Rahul | 8 years ago | Reply Actually 167 countries were ranked in 2015 and 174 in 2014. The 7 countries which were not included in 2015 ranked above Pakistan 2014. Though Pakistan appears to have moved up 3 places but it actually moved down 4 places.

Romm | 8 years ago | Reply It's not intentional. Sharifs could not keep the impetus set by Asif Zardari.

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someone | 8 years ago | Reply Recently Indian railway has decided to put all work tenders to go online in form of e-tender. This will reduce the bribe cases to a great extent. Pakistan Railway and PIA can use similar tools to reduce corruption.

Malik Saab | 8 years ago | Reply @Jameel: Because Pakistan is the only country that is improving in rankings. Others are stagnant in this case. Thanks to the rule of PPP we were competing with the last indices. Now every year our index is improving. @Raja A biased eye is basically a blind eye.

pervaiz | 8 years ago | Reply @Faisalabadi: "So pak will reach on ist after 42 Years with this speed." 42 years are nothing if any nation raches to first position. USA & Europe spent hundered year to reach at top. My real happiness is that Pakistan did not slip downside what we have been observing since many years. That's our duty to appreciate if something happened good in Pakistan. God bless Pakistan

Saad | 8 years ago | Reply Amazing, Iran is at 130 & Pakistan is above at 117. For many of us, Iran is role model. Even strange fact is Saudi Arabia is at 48 position which is contrary to our belief.

Faisalabadi | 8 years ago | Reply @pervaiz: So pak will reach on ist after 42 Years with this speed.

Yul47 | 8 years ago | Reply The politicians are probably sharing a chuckle as Pakistan improves its position by a point, but it is still in the mix with African countries. The corruption index will drop dramatically once good governance becomes second nature, but it is far from it. The media has increased awareness amongst people some mega scandals exposed, but politicians are thick skinned and unless the Court play its part to severely remand those in high office, Pakistan may be driven to a junk state.

saad | 8 years ago | Reply @Sameer: Actually Pakistan has improved the score from 29 to 30 and has moved from 126 to 117th.India score is still 38 but due to reduction in number of countries from 174 to 168 plus some of the countries has not performed well compare to last year so their score have dropped which cause to improve their rating. This is good for Pakistan, slow and steadliy Pakistan is moving in right direction.

Syedpk | 8 years ago | Reply @cobra commander, he meant that nab took actions on pressure from Pindi. Are you high ??

Rahul | 8 years ago | Reply @Junaid: India rather than moving up on its own, was a beneficiary of other falling down. The countries which were above India in rankings last year, have slipped below India this year and that's why India's ranking was pushed up. Our overall score has remained the same from last year.

Smiling Buddha | 8 years ago | Reply As per transparency.org website India has improved 76th spot from 85 , where else china is at 83rd spot and pakistan has improved from 126th to 123rd spot. I dont understand how come the pakistan fared better in corruption perception 2015. Here is the link ...... http://www.transparency.org/cpi2015

Smiling Buddha | 8 years ago | Reply Completely ridiculous story, Where India has improved from 85 to 76 where else china is at 83 spot, I dont understand how 123th positioned Pakistan has done better in corruption perceptions. here is the link ..... http://www.transparency.org/cpi2015

pervaiz | 8 years ago | Reply This is good. Improvement becomes slowly and gradually. This may be not a very good news for most of people as still Pakistan position is 52 from bottom, but this is good news for most reasonable people that we have some improvement otherwise we were bound to be slipped lower during recent past.

Pakistani | 8 years ago | Reply Cool. But still alot of improvements required.

Rabbani | 8 years ago | Reply So according to TI, corruption has reduced in LDA, Punjab Police, Patwari system, large scale money laundering, NAB..... Sorry if I have missed something.

nadeem | 8 years ago | Reply Good to see that our bureaucrats, generals, and politicians are now stealing less public money than last year. This is not because of guilty conscience but a result of fear of getting caught, as a result of media vigilance and general democratization of Pakistan. We need to take the fear factor up by many notches. More independence for media, more reforms in the criminal investigation and justice system, plus other reforms are needed.

Sam | 8 years ago | Reply Actually they are not showing rankings.... India improved 9 spots and moved to 76 rank from previous 85 rank, while Pak improved only 3 spots and moved to 123 rank from previous 126 rank,... So you can guess who performed better :)

Liberal | 8 years ago | Reply @Minhaj Haider: Better than big pockets, yeah?

Jameel | 8 years ago | Reply Pakistan scored 30, India scored 38 and China scored 37... how is this better performance? India ranks 76, Pakistan ranks 117

nasser | 8 years ago | Reply @Minhaj Haider: It depends upon your perceptions. Otherwise a small step towards a positive goal is better than achieving it in today's state of affairs. By perhaps you have learned everything like speaking and talking by birth.

Mubashir | 8 years ago | Reply May be, we are the only nation on earth who can not digest any good news about ourselves. Always want to look at the dark side @Raja, @Minhaj Haider.

Junaid | 8 years ago | Reply Better in SAARC.... really? India improved 9 spots and moved to 76 from previous 85th spot.... While Pakistan improved 3 spots and moved to 123 from previous 126th spot

Cobra commander | 8 years ago | Reply @Raja: TI is responsible for this survey not NAB . TI is an international organization not Pakistani. Kindly read and research before commenting .

Sameer | 8 years ago | Reply Please show the rankings also ... India has improved its rank from previous year's 85 position to 76 ...while China is at 83... Pakistan was at 126 rank last time, now it has improved 3 rankings and moved to 123

Minhaj Haider | 8 years ago | Reply So we are the thieves with smallest pockets

Raja | 8 years ago | Reply Dear PML(N) supporters, it has nothing to do with your Govt. We all know NAB was pressurized by your bosses there in Rawalpindi.

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