Nepal Slips to 117 on Corruption Perception Index 2005

Kathmandu, Oct 18-Nepal has stood in the 117th position among the 159 countries surveyed in the Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index 2005 with a score of 2.5 out of a clean score of 10, according to the latest ranking from international corruption monitoring body.The Transparency International has reported an increase in perceived corruption in Nepal from 2004 to 2005.
Nepal was in 90th position among the 146 countries surveyed with a score of 2.8 out of the clean score of 10 in the Corruption Perception Index 2004.Nepal scored 2.5 out of 10 where a score close to 10 indicates that a country is perceived to be "highly clean" and the higher a country is placed on the index, the less corrupt it is believed to be.
"An increase in perceived corruption from 2004 to 2005 can be measured in countries such as Costa Rica, Gabon, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago and Uruguay," a TI report said.
Conversely, a number of countries and territories show noteworthy improvements - a decline in perceptions of corruption - over the past year, including Estonia, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Qatar, Taiwan and Turkey.
According to the latest TI report, Bangladesh and Chad are lowest in the list with a CPI score of 1.7. Pakistan and Sri Lanka stand in 144th and 82nd position with the CPI scores of 2.1 and 3.2.Iceland has become the most clean country with a CPI score of 9.7. Finland and new Zealand stand second in the list with the score of 9.6. While UK and USA stand in 11th and 17th positions with the score of 8.6 and 7.6 respectively. India and China stand in 88th and 77th positions with the score of 2.9 and 3.2 respectively.
According to the TI report, over two-thirds of the 159 nations surveyed in scored less than 5 out of a clean score of 10, indicating serious levels of corruption in a majority of the countries surveyed.The report says: In the case of higher-income countries such as Canada and Ireland, however, there has been a marked increase in the perception of corruption over the past ten years, showing that even wealthy, high-scoring countries must work to maintain a climate of integrity.The 2005 Index bears witness to the double burden of poverty and corruption borne by the world’s least developed countries.
“Corruption is a major cause of poverty as well as a barrier to overcoming it,” said Transparency International Chairman Peter Eigen. “The two scourges feed off each other, locking their populations in a cycle of misery. Corruption must be vigorously addressed if aid is to make a real difference in freeing people from poverty.”Despite progress on many fronts, including the imminent entry into force of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, seventy countries - nearly half of those included in the Index - scored less than 3 on the CPI, indicating a severe corruption problem. Among the countries included in the Index, corruption is perceived as most rampant in Chad, Bangladesh, Turkmenistan, Myanmar and Haiti – also among the poorest countries in the world.