Pakistan’s ranking on corruption perception index improves by 7 places: TI

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s ranking on Corruption Perception Index (CPI) has improved by seven places and is now ranked 133rd among 180 countries in comparison to its 140th place last year, ARY News reported on Tuesday, quoting a report by Transparency International (TI).

The Corruption Perception Index (CPI) of Transparency International ranks 180 countries and territories around the world by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, scoring on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).

According to the report by the Berlin-based corruption watchdog, Pakistan’s ranking, during 2023, was 133 while the CPI score was 29 out of 100 – an increase of two points that made this its highest score since 2020.

Released: Tl has released flagship Corruption Perception Index 2023. In CPI 2023 #Pakistan score has improved by 2 points from 27 in 2022 to 29 in CPI 2023 and rank has improved by 7 positions from 140 in CPI 2022 to 133 in CPI 2023. Details: https://t.co/3WRCY9Oq8L pic.twitter.com/iBVuCYs7aP

— Transparency International Pakistan (@TIPakistan1) January 30, 2024

Previously, the report ranked Pakistan at 140 while the country’s overall score fell to 27 in the same year — the lowest since 2012.

“This reflects on the anti-corruption efforts taken by different pillars of the state due to which Pakistan has witnessed an improvement in CPI 2023,” Justice Zia Perwez (retired), Chair of Transparency International Pakistan, was quoted as saying in the press release.

He said that policies aimed at better governance and effective enforcement of the law were expected to yield positive results in the future, as well as implementation of the recommendations by Transparency International.

“Transparency International calls on governments to give justice systems the independence, resources and transparency needed to effectively punish all corruption offences and provide checks and balances on power. Where necessary, they must also introduce better procedures and laws to help justice institutions shield themselves from and target corrupt acts.”

The report noted that although Pakistan grapples with debt burdens and ensuing political instability, the strong judicial oversight helps to keep the government in check.

“The Supreme Court of Pakistan strengthened citizens’ right to information by expanding this right under Article 19A of its Constitution to previously restricted institutions,” it added.

Denmark (90) tops the index for the sixth consecutive year, with Finland and New Zealand following closely with scores of 87 and 85, respectively.

Somalia (11), Venezuela (13), Syria (13), South Sudan (13) and Yemen (16) take the bottom spots in the index. They are all affected by protracted crises, mostly armed conflicts.

Meanwhile, 23 countries — among them some high-ranking democracies like Iceland (72), the Netherlands (79), Sweden (82) and the United Kingdom (71), as well as some authoritarian states like Iran (24), Russia (26), Tajikistan (20) and Venezuela (13) — are all at historic lows this year.