In analyzing the second full year of the PPP/C’s government on the perception of corruption the Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) Report 2022 has concluded that the country has improved and has given it a score that sees it one point higher than last year’s.
This year the country has scored 40 points and a rank of 85 out of 180 countries. Last year the country went down by two points from the previous year with a score of 39 and ranking of 87 out of 180 countries. Forty points is a low score.
Guyana also remains far below the leaders in the region, Barbados and The Bahamas. It is also below Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. The only CARICOM country that Guyana is ahead of is Haiti which registered a score of 17 and a ranking of 171.
According to the report a country’s score is the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0-100, where 0 means highly corrupt and 100 means very clean.
On the other hand a country’s rank is its position relative to the other countries in the index. Ranks can change merely if the number of countries included in the index changes. The rank is therefore not as important as the score in terms of indicating the level of corruption in that country, the report indicated.
The 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) shows that most countries are failing to stop corruption.
According to the report the global average remains unchanged for over a decade at just 43 out of 100. More than two-thirds of countries score below 50, while 26 countries have fallen to their lowest scores yet. Despite concerted efforts and hard-won gains by some, 155 countries have made no significant progress against corruption or have declined since 2012.
The new report found that 124 countries have stagnant corruption levels, while the number of countries in decline is increasing. “This has the most serious consequences, as global peace is deteriorating and corruption is both a key cause and result of this,” the report noted.
It pointed out that countries with strong institutions and well-functioning democracies often find themselves at the top of the Index. Denmark heads the ranking, with a score of 90. Finland and New Zealand follow closely with a score of 87. Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland and Luxembourg complete the top 10 this year.
On the flip side, countries experiencing conflict or where basic personal and political freedoms are highly restricted tend to earn the lowest marks. This year, Somalia, Syria, and South Sudan are at the bottom of the index. Venezuela, Yemen, Libya, North Korea, Haiti, Equatorial Guinea and Burundi are also in the bottom 10.
According to report in the past five years, only eight countries have significantly improved their scores, and 10 countries have dropped significantly, including high-ranking countries such as Austria, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom. The rest (90 per cent of countries) have had stagnant corruption levels.
Leading in the Caribbean is Barbados with a score of 65, same as last year and it remains ranked at 29. It is followed by The Bahamas with a score of 64, same as last year, and a ranking of 30, St Vincent and the Grenadines’ score has gone up by one to 60 and ranking of 35, Dominica’s score remains at 55 and ranks at 45, Grenada’s score has dropped to 52 and it is ranked at 51. Jamaica’s score also remains at 44 but its rank went down up by 1 to 69. Trinidad pipped Guyana this year again as its score increased by one to 42 and it is now ranked at 77. Suriname is tied with Guyana at 40 points.
