Pakistan is Now More Corrupt Than Before in Latest Transparency International Report

Transparency International’s global report for 2019 shows that Pakistani people think the country is now more corrupt than before.

Transparency International issued its global report on the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) puts Pakistan even lower in 2019 as compared to last year.

It must be noted that Transparency International launches a corruption “perception” index which is not a measure of corruption (considerably harder) in a country. This index measures how corrupt people think public sector institutions are.

According to the report, Pakistan has gone down slightly in the ‘Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2019’, with a score of 32 out of 100 — one point less than the one in 2018 pushing Pakistan down to 120 in the index. Last year it was ranked at 117th. Since 2010, this is the first time Pakistan did worse than before.

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The Corruption Perceptions Index 2019 reveals a staggering number of countries are showing little to no improvement in tackling corruption. The report suggests that reducing big money in politics and promoting inclusive political decision-making are essential to curb corruption.

With doubts over the decisions regarding top politicians who were considered corrupt, Pakistan was bound to go down even further.

The CPI scores 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, according to experts and business people. 100 is very clean while 0 is considered highly corrupt.

This year’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) shows corruption is more prevalent in countries where big money can flow freely into electoral campaigns and where governments listen only to the voices of the wealthy or well-connected individuals.

More than two-thirds of countries scored below 50 on this year’s CPI, with an average score of just 43, said the report.

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Similar to previous years, the data shows that despite some progress, a majority of countries are still failing to tackle public sector corruption effectively.

The countries with the least corruption are:

1. New Zealand and Denmark (87)
2. Finland (86)
3. Singapore (85)
4. Sweden (85)
5. Switzerland (85)

The bottom countries are Somalia, South Sudan and Syria with scores of 9, 12 and 13, respectively. These countries are closely followed by Yemen (15), Venezuela (16), Sudan (16), Equatorial Guinea (16) and Afghanistan (16).

”Governments must urgently address the corrupting role of big money in political party financing and the undue influence it exerts on our political systems,” stated Delia Ferreira Rubio Chair Transparency International.

Transparency International globally uses 13 different data sources to construct the Corruption Perceptions Index. However, in Pakistan’s case, surveys from at least 8 international organizations matter which include:

• World Economic Forum Executive Opinion Survey;
• World Bank Country Policy and Institutional Assessment;
• World Justice Project Rule of Law Index;
• Bertelsmann Stiftung Transformation Index;
• Economist Intelligence Unit Country Risk Service;
• Global Insight Country Risk Ratings;
• IMD World Competitiveness Center World Competitiveness Yearbook Executive Opinion Survey;
• Varieties of Democracy.