BERLIN/23.09.08
TURAN

On Tuesday Transparency International Organization (TI) published annual report on corruption in 180 countries of the world. Level of corruption is determined by Corruption Perception Index (CPI) based on polls conducted among experts and in business circles. Level of CPI is from 0 to 10 (0- is the highest point, and 10 is the lowest point.) Less corrupted countries are Denmark, New Zealand, and Sweden with 9.3 scores, then comes Singapore with 9.2 scores.

The most corrupted country is Somali (1.0), then Iraq and Myanmar (scoring 1. each) and Haiti (1.4.)

Azerbaijan ranks 158 with 1.7 scores (corruption in Azerbaijan has become deeper- last year it ranked 150th (1.9); Georgia ranks 67th (3.2), and Armenia - 109 (2.6); Russia ranks 147 (1.9); Turkmenistan, Kirgizstan and Uzbekistan rank 166th (1.5.)

Fight against corruption requires tough control on the part of parliaments, law enforcement bodies, independent mass media and strong civil society, head of the Board of TI Ugett Label said. If such institutions are not strong enough corruption cannot be controlled and brings terrible consequences for the principles of equality and fairness in society.

High level of corruption in the countries with small income undermines great efforts in fight against poverty, and threatens to break development of most countries, including former soviet republics.

Some improvement is observed in Georgia, but scores in other countries continue to drop. Estimation by most of Middle Asian countries remain on the same low level, or continue to drop. In Georgia indices increased from 3.4 scores in 2007 to 3.9 scores in 2008, what testifies to high effectiveness of reforms conducted for obtaining trust and improvement of the country’s international image. -02D-

Transparency International 2008 Corruption Perceptions Index