Nepal’s corruption index improves slightly

 Kathmandu, Jan. 30

Nepal has slightly improved its position in the global Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2023 with a two-step jump from 110^th among 180 countries in 2022 to 108^th position in 2023.

According to the latest report of the Transparency International's CPI 2023 report launched globally on Tuesday, Nepal has remained in the group of high corruption perception with just 35 score in 100. Its score has gone up to 35 this year from 34 last year. In 2013, the country had 31 total score and was in 116^th position among 177 countries worldwide.

This shows that Nepal couldn't achieve much success in curbing corruption and is in the groups of countries that have high corruption rate, said the TI Nepal. Nepal is in the club of two-thirds of countries that achieved less than 50. The average score of Asia and the Pacific is 45.

In south Asia, Bhutan tops the list and remains at 26^th position. India is in 93^rd, Maldives 93^rd, Sri Lanka 115^th, Pakistan 133^rd, Bangladesh 149^th and Afghanistan is at 162^nd. Nepal's northern Neighbour, China, is at 76^th position with 42 marks.

Despite the progress made in criminalising corruption and establishing specialised anti-corruption institutions around the world, only 28 of the 180 countries measured by the CPI have improved their corruption levels, and 34 countries have worsened.

According to the report, for the sixth year in a row, Denmark heads the ranking, with a score of 90. Finland and New Zealand follow closely with scores of 87 and 85, respectively. Norway (84), Singapore (83), Sweden (82), Switzerland (82), the Netherlands (79), Germany (78) and Luxembourg (78) complete the top 10 this year.

Meanwhile, countries experiencing conflict or with highly restricted freedoms and weak democratic institutions tend to score worst. This year, Somalia (11), Venezuela (13), Syria (13) and South Sudan (13) are at the bottom of the index. Yemen (16), Nicaragua (17), North Korea (17), Haiti (17), Equatorial Guinea (17), Turkmenistan (18) and Libya (18) are the next lowest performers.

Countries with strong rule of law and well-functioning democratic institutions often sit at the top of the index. Democratic countries tend to greatly outperform authoritarian regimes when controlling corruption – full democracies have a CPI average of 73, flawed democracies have one of 48 and non-democratic regimes just 32.

However, the top 25 countries in the index make up just over 10 per cent of all people. "Corruption therefore remains a challenge that directly or indirectly harms most people," said the TI.

The CPI ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public-sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople. It relies on 13 independent data sources and uses a scale of zero to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.

The TI has maintained that the fight for justice and the fight against corruption go hand in hand: where the justice system is unable to uphold the rule of law, corruption thrives. At the same time, where corruption is the norm, access to justice is often hindered for the most vulnerable, and justice institutions may be captured by political, economic or special interest groups.

According to it, there has been a global decline in justice and the rule of law since 2016. The rise of authoritarianism in some countries contributes to this trend, and even in democratic contexts, the mechanisms that keep governments in check have weakened.

"Governments across the political spectrum have undermined justice systems, restricted civic freedoms and relied on non-democratic strategies to address recent challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic," read the report. 

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 31 January 2024.