2024-01-30 16:16:28
As every year, the organization Transparency International published its report on the fight against corruption worldwide. According to this entity, “the majority of countries have made little or no progress in combating corruption”, with “the global average remaining unchanged (43), for the 12th consecutive year, with more than two thirds of countries register results below 50”, which in their view “indicates serious corruption problems”.
Published on: 01/30/2024 – 17:16
3 min
According to this index in which 180 countries were classified according to the perception of the level of corruption in their respective public structures on a scale from zero (strong corruption) to 100 (no corruption), Denmark (90) leads for the 6th consecutive year the ranking of least corrupt countries, followed by Finland and New Zealand.
In this ranking, Somalia (11), Venezuela (13), Syria (13), South Sudan (13) and Yemen (16), all of which are affected by wars or prolonged crises, occupy the last places.
Ranked 20th, France achieved a score of 71 in the 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index, roughly the same ranking as in 2013. Despite “this score has evolved slightly during this decade, oscillating between 69 and 72/100, this ten-year stagnation is related to government communication that does not attribute any priority to the fight against corruption policy” considera a Transparency International.
In the case of Portugal, the NGO that ranks the country in 34th position with 61 points, notes that it is below the average value for its region (65 points) and states that Portugal is “one of the countries in Europe where there are failures in terms of integrity in politics”. In this context, Transparency International highlights «the need to reinforce the rules regarding conflicts of interest, ethical standards and transparency in the exercise of public functions and in lobbying activities“ in Portugal.
On the African continent, Tranparency International highlights that there are reports of corruption, extortion and political interference in judicial systems in countries such as Nigeria (25), Burundi (20) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (22) and, in this sense, “calls on governments to give judicial systems the independence, resources and transparency necessary to effectively punish all corruption crimes and ensure balance between instances in the can”.
The NGO notes that some countries have improved their performance, namely Angola, which this year reached 33 points, ranking 121st, which marks an improvement of 14 points since 2019. An evolution that, according to the report, has the to do with the adoption of measures to combat corruption that applied “consistently” to recover stolen goods and hold the alleged perpetrators of these acts accountable.
Segundo a Transparency International, “with the exception of Portugal and Cape Verde (which collects 64 points), which is now the country with the highest score within this Community,(…) all CPLP countries have a score below 50, corresponding to nations with serious corruption problems”.
Among the countries of Portuguese-speaking Africa, the NGO specifically states that Guinea-Bissau, with 22 points, is the 160th most corrupt country among the 180 countries analyzed.
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