Transparency International’s 2013 Corruption Perceptions Index has revealed that regimes in Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia have not improved their standing, indicating these countries have not taken adequate measures to combat corruption, achieve independence and integrity of judiciary or legislate laws such as rights to obtain information.
According to the report, United Arab Emirates ranked the first country in the North Africa and Middle East region region with lowest level of corruption in the public sector with 69 points. Then came Qatar by 68 points and Israel by 61 points. Egypt ranked the 144th place by 32 points. Sudan, Libya, Iraq, Yemen and Iran were the worst in the region.
Meanwhile each of Syria, Libya and Yemen declined in ranks, by nine points for Syria and five points for each of Libya and Yemen regarding corruption fighting in the public sector.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Berlin-based organization said that the annual report represents a warning against the abuse of power, secret deals and bribes which are ongoing problems that ruin societies across the world. The zero degree, according to the barometer, refers to high amount of corruption, while the 100 degree refers that the country is free of corruption.
The report included 177 countries. More than 70 percent of the countries were less than 50 degrees on the barometer, which refers these countries suffer huge problems of corruption.
Internationally, the report showed that Denmark and New Zealand ranked the highest places by 91 points for each, while each of North Korea and Afghanistan were the worst by eight points for each.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
