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| India-Pakistan | |
| Pakistan at No 138 on TI's transparency list | |
| 2007-09-27 | |
| Corruption is rampant in Pakistan and it has rated at No 138 out of the 180 countries analysed by a respected anti-graft watchdog in a report released on Wednesday. Berlin-based Transparency International (TI) said in its annual Corruption Perceptions Index covering 180 countries that some of the worldÂ’s poorest nations were seen as having the most dishonest political and business elites. The report showed that
The index score relates to perceptions of the degree of corruption as seen by business people and country analysts. It ranges between zero, which is highly corrupt, and 10, which is very clean. However, the group said that even countries believed to be the least corrupt — named this year as Denmark, Finland and New Zealand — needed to do more to combat corporate graft. Corruption drain: “Despite some gains, corruption remains an enormous drain on resources sorely needed for education, health and infrastructure,” said TI Chairwoman Huguette Labelle, in a statement. It noted significant improvement among African countries such as Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland, which the organisation said highlighted that political will and reform can root out sleaze. Iraq, Somalia top list: According to the report, the corruption in war-ravaged countries such as Iraq and Somalia is hobbling their recovery efforts. “Countries torn apart by conflict pay a huge toll in their capacity to govern,” Labelle said. “Low-scoring countries need to take these results seriously and act now to strengthen accountability in public institutions. But action from top-scoring countries is just as important, particularly in cracking down on corrupt activity in the private sector,” she added. TI also continued to find a strong link between poverty and graft with 40 percent of the countries scoring below three this year — indicating that corruption is considered to be rampant — classified by the World Bank as low-income states. | |
| Posted by:Fred |