Transparency International on Tuesday released its Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2018 report in which Pakistan scored 33 out of 100, scoring one point better than CPI 2017.
Pakistan’s ranking, however, remains the same at 117 out of 180 countries.
Transparency International Pakistan Chairman Sohail Muzaffar said that Pakistan must make efforts to eradicate corruption from the country because the economy cannot become stable unless corruption is rooted out.
“Foreign businesses check the ease of doing business before taking the decision to start working with a country. Pakistan will need to improve its ranking in the various International surveys to attract foreign investments which is necessary for it to improve its GDP growth rate,” Muzaffar said, adding that anti-corruption laws should be strengthened and those involved in corrupt practices should be handed exemplary punishments.
According to the report, failure to curb corruption is causing significant damage to democracy globally as more than two-thirds of countries have a score below 50, with an average score of only 43.
Transparency International Managing Director Patricia Moreira said, “With many democratic institutions under threat across the globe — often by leaders with authoritarian or populist tendencies — we need to do more to strengthen checks and balances and protect citizens’ rights. Corruption chips away at democracy to produce a vicious cycle, where corruption undermines democratic institutions and, in turn, weak institutions are less able to control corruption.”
The highest scoring region is Western Europe and the European Union, with an average score of 66, while the lowest scoring regions are sub-Saharan Africa, with the average score 32, while Eastern Europe and Central Asia have the average score of 35. Denmark and New Zealand top the index with 88 and 87 points, respectively. Somalia, South Sudan, and Syria are at the bottom of the index, with 10, 13 and 13 points, respectively.
