Transparency International, corruption and the EBRD region in 2014

Estonia, Cyprus, Poland, Lithuania, Slovenia, Latvia, Hungary and Georgia are among the top 50 countries listed by Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index.

 

Transparency International last week published its annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI),  capturing perceptions of the extent of corruption in the public sector, based on data from independent institutions specialising in governance and business climate analysis such as the World Bank, the Economist Intelligence Unit, the African Development Bank and the Bertelsmann Foundation.

 

The scores reflect perceptions of the prevalence of bribery and a lack of punishment for corruption in the public sector.

 

The CPI, which is a tool widely used by governments, civil society organisations and investors to compare levels of corruption across countries, ranks 175 countries and territories according to scores ranging from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 100 (perceived to be very clean). The 2014 ranking is headed by Denmark with a score of 92, while North Korea and Somalia share the last place with a score of eight.

 

In the EBRD region only eight countries are among the top 50 listed by the CPI: Estonia, Cyprus, Poland, Lithuania, Slovenia, Latvia and Hungary, which are for the first time joined by Georgia this year.

 

Turkey experienced the most severe decline (from 50 to 45) among all EBRD countries in this year’s ranking, though it remains amongst the better performing countries on the corruption scale.

 

In South-Eastern Europe (SEE), scores remained more or less stable relative to 2013, suggesting that the EU anchor and the emphasis on economic governance have yet to show tangible results. Croatia and FYR Macedonia remain the highest ranked countries in this region, while Albania and Kosovo are at the bottom with scores of 33. Albania, which has made the fight against corruption a high priority under Prime Minister Edi Rama, and which is cooperating closely with the EBRD’s Investment Climate and Governance Initiative (ICGI), improved slightly from last year (31 in 2013 to 33 this year).

 

Serbia, on the other hand, another ICGI programme country, declined slightly from 42 to 41. Bulgaria’s score of 43 increased by 2 notches compared to the previous CPI and is on the same level as Romania’s, which remains the same as last year’s.

 

The change in leadership in Ukraine and the fall of the Yanukovich regime did not produce noticeable immediate results on the corruption scale (Ukraine’s score increased slightly from 25 to 26). Much work remains to be done in Ukraine, and this is a focus of the new Government.

 

In Moldova, another country that recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the EBRD to improve the investment climate and to promote good governance, the level of perceived public sector corruption remained the same as last year (with a score of 35). Following elections and the continuation of the pro-reform coalition in Moldova there is hope that more will be done to crack down on corruption at all levels.

 

Elsewhere in the former Soviet Union scores pretty much remained at their pre-existing low levels. From this group of countries, only Georgia, as noted above, has a respectable score and ranking on anti-corruption. Uzbekistan (18) and Turkmenistan (17) remain at the very bottom of the league table of EBRD’s countries of operations. They share the 170^th rank out of 175, and are therefore among the 10 most corrupt countries in the world.

 

Jordan heads the ranking among the SEMED countries with a score of 49 (up from 45 last year) and is together with Egypt (from 32 to 37) the biggest improver in the entire EBRD region, with +4 and +5 notches respectively. Tunisia deteriorated slightly (from 41 to 40) while Morocco’s score increased from 37 to 39.

Rank 2012 (out of 176 countries)	Rank 2013 (out of 177 countries)	Rank 2014 (out of 175 countries)		COUNTRY	Score 2014 (very corrupt) to 100 (very clean)		Score 2013  (very corrupt) to 100 (very clean)	Score 2012 (very corrupt) to 100 (very clean)
Ranking among the 50 least corrupt countries worldwide
32	28	26	(+2)	Estonia	69	↑	68	64
29	31	31	=	Cyprus	63	=	63	66
41	38	35	(+3)	Poland	61	↑	60	58
48	43	39	(+4)	Lithuania	58	↑	57	54
37	43	39	(+4)	Slovenia	58	↑	57	61
54	49	43	(+6)	Latvia	55	↑	53	49
46	47	47	=	Hungary	54	=	54	55
51	55	50	(+5)	Georgia	52	↑	49	52
Ranking between 51 and 100
62	61	54	(+7)	Slovak Republic	50	↑	47	46
58	66	55	(+11)	Jordan	49	↑	45	48
62	57	61	(-4)	Croatia	48	=	48	46
69	67	64	(+3)	FYR Macedonia	45	↑	44	43
54	53	64	(-11)	Turkey	45	↓	50	49
75	77	69	(+8)	Bulgaria	43	↑	41	41
66	69	69	=	Romania	43	=	43	44
75	67	76	(-7)	Montenegro	42	↓	44	41
80	72	78	(-6)	Serbia	41	↓	42	39
75	77	79	(-2)	Tunisia	40	↓	41	41
72	72	80	(-8)	Bosnia and Herzegovina	39	↓	42	42
94	83	80	(-3)	Mongolia	39	↑	38	36
88	91	80	(+11)	Morocco	39	↑	37	37
105	94	94	=	Armenia	37	↑	36	34
118	114	94	(+20)	Egypt	37	↑	32	32
Ranking between 101 and 150
94	102	103	(-1)	Moldova	35	=	35	36
113	116	110	(+6)	Albania	33	↑	31	33
105	111	110	(+1)	Kosovo	33	=	33	34
123	123	119	(+4)	Belarus	31	↑	29	31
139	127	126	(+1)	Azerbaijan	29	↑	28	27
133	140	126	(+14)	Kazakhstan	29	↑	26	28
154	150	136	(+14)	Kyrgyz Republic	27	↑	24	24
133	127	136	(-9)	Russia	27	↓	28	28
144	144	142	(+2)	Ukraine	26	↑	25	26
Ranking from 151 up to 177
157	154	152	(+2)	Tajikistan	23	↑	22	22
Ranking among the 10 most corrupt countries worldwide
170	168	166	(+2)	Uzbekistan	18	↑	17	17
170	168	169	(-1)	Turkmenistan	17	=	17	17