HK, Singapore are Asia’s least corrupt nations

HONG KONG: Singapore and Hong Kong have been ranked the least corrupt places to do business in Asia, while India has been ranked 6.67 on the scale of 0-10 in a survey published Wednesday. Singapore topped the poll as the least corrupt place to do business with a score of 1.2, followed by Hong Kong at 1.87 and Japan at 2.1.

At the other end of the scale, Indonesia and Thailand both scored 8.03, while the Philippines was ranked the most corrupt place to do business with a score of 9.4 in the annual survey by the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy.

Macau ranked as the fourth least corrupt place in the poll with a score of 5.11, followed by Taiwan at 6.23, Malaysia at 6.25, mainland China at 6.29, South Korea at 6.3, India at 6.67 and Vietnam at 7.54. Singapore was also least corrupt in last year’s survey, but the new ratings were good news for Hong Kong, which leapfrogged Japan into second place, and Vietnam, which climbed from worst last year to fourth from bottom this year. The poll was compiled through interviews with nearly 1,500 businessmen in 126 countries and territories on their perceptions of corruption in Asian countries.