Sri Lanka’s position in the annual Corruption Perception Index (CPI) has worsened in 2009 dropping to the 97th position among 180 countries. Last year Sri Lanka occupied the 92nd position. The Index, which focuses on corruption in the public sector, is conducted by Transparency International (TI), the global civil society organization leading the fight against corruption.
Sri Lanka’s score is at a low 3.1 (as against 3.2 last year) which indicates a serious corruption problem in the public sector in the country. Its score has continuously declined since 2002 when it was at 3.7.
Commenting on this score, Mr J C Weliamuna, Executive Director of Transparency International said that though CPI is perceptional, this is the most recognized and often quoted international index on corruption. “What we see is a clear indictment on Sri Lanka and the urgent need for major systemic changes to wipe out corruption. The lesson to learn from the CPI reading this year is that anti corruption should be nothing less than a national priority,” he said.
Commenting on the Index as a whole, Mr. Weliamuna also points out that the dictatorial regimes and countries plagued with internal conflicts are much worse in governance and therefore scored poorest in the Index.
The CPI measures each country’s level of corruption and places it on a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 is highly corrupt and 10 low levels of corruption. It ranks countries in terms of the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians.
As for Sri Lanka’s neighbouring countries, India’s score remains at 3.4 while Maldives (2.5), Bangladesh (2.4), Pakistan (2.4) and Nepal (2.3) continue to be below 3.0. Bhutan’s score this year is 5.0.
Releasing the CPI, Chair of Transparency International, Hugette Labelle says that stemming corruption requires oversight by parliaments, a well performing judiciary, independent and properly resourced audit and anti-corruption agencies, vigorous law enforcement, transparency in public budgets, revenue and aid flows, as well as space for independent media and a vibrant civil society.
Explaining the significance of this year’s CPI in the global context, Transparency International says that as the world economy begins to register a tentative recovery and some nations continue to wrestle with ongoing conflict and insecurity, it is clear that no region of the world is immune to the perils of corruption. “At a time when massive stimulus packages, fast-track disbursements of public funds and attempts to secure peace are being implemented around the world, it is essential to identify where corruption blocks good governance and accountability, in order to break its corrosive cycle,” TI Chair stated.
A feature of this year’s CPI is that the vast majority of the 180 countries included in the index have scored below five.
Highest scorers in the 2009 CPI are New Zealand at 9.4, Singapore and Sweden at 9.2 and Switzerland at 9.0. These scores reflect political stability, long established conflict of interest regulations and solid functioning public constitutions. At the bottom of the index are Somalia (1.1), Afghanistan (1.3), Myanmar (1.4) and Sudan & Iraq (1.5). These results demonstrate that countries which are perceived as the most corrupt are also plagued by long-standing conflicts, which have torn apart their governance infrastructure.