Qatar least corrupt in the region

QATAR was ranked the least corrupt country in the region for the second consecutive year and better placed than some European countries in the annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2008 released by Berlin-based International Watchdog Transparency International, yesterday.

Improving upon its last year’s position, Qatar climbed four slots from the 32nd place to 28th this year, advancing its CPI score to 6.5 from 6.

The higher the score on the 0-10 index, the lower the corruption perceptions.

The report said Denmark, Sweden and New Zealand shared the honour of being the world’s least corrupt countries. Portugal was placed 32nd, Italy was on the 55th place, Greece 57th and Poland 58th in the 180-nation list.

There was little change at the bottom from last year - with Somalia closely followed, as in 2007, by Myanmar, Iraq and Haiti.

Among countries in the region, the United Arab Emirates was rated 35th with a CPI score of 5.9 points, Oman (41st place, score 5.5), Bahrain (43rd place, 5.4), Kuwait (65th, 4.3) and Saudi Arabia (80th, 3.5).

The ranking measures perceived levels of public sector corruption and draws on surveys of businesses and experts.

The report pointed to worsening performances by Britain, which slipped to 16th from 12th, and Italy, down to 55th from 41st.

The US was in 18th place, compared with 20th last year. The report noted that it remains among the lowest-ranked leading industrial countries.

There were some bright spots in the new report - African powerhouse Nigeria improving to 121st place from 147th last year, reflecting increasingly positive perceptions of the country’s new government. Georgia also rose to 67th place from 79th.

By K T Chacko