Pakistan improves on Transparency International corruption index

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is the only country among South Asian nations that improved its Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) score in 2015, a leading global anti-corruption watchdog has said.

India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh scored the same or less as compared to their scores in 2014, the Transparency International (TI) said in its report on the CPI 2015, Associated Press of Pakistan reported.

In a statement, TI Pakistan Chairman Sohail Muzaffar said the CPI score for Pakistan this year had again increased by one point to 30, while its rank improved by three.

"Pakistan should have performed better, which can be achieved by having on-ground measures for the implementation of zero tolerance for corruption," he added.

He hoped the government would take serious steps to implement the recommendations of TI Pakistan which might result in marked reduction in corruption and much better CPI in future.

The index covered perceptions of public sector corruption in 168 countries.

"Although corruption is still rife globally, more countries improved their scores in the 2015 edition of Transparency International's CPI than declined," the statement said.

Overall, two-thirds of the 168 countries on the 2015 index scored below 50, on a scale from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 100 (perceived to be very clean).

Denmark took the top spot for the 2nd year running, while North Korea and Somalia turned out to be the worst performers, scoring just 8 points each.

The CPI is based on expert opinions of public sector corruption.