Yemen retreats in international corruption index by 10 places [Archives:2008/1197/Local News]
Almigdad Mojalli
SANA'A, Oct. 6 ) Yemen dropped 10 places from last year and 30 places from 2006 in Transparency International's (TI) new Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) issued last month at the organization's headquarters in Berlin.
The CPI evaluates the degree of corruption in each country as perceived by businessmen and women, and country analysts. Results are presented on a scale of zero to ten, in which zero signifies a high level of corruption and ten represents no corruption at all.
180 countries were ranked this year according to their rate of corruption in the public sector.
Somalia appeared 180th in the index, with a corruption score of 1.0. The four other countries to figure among the world's five most corrupt nations were Myanmar and Iraq, both in 178th place, Haiti in 177th place, and Afghanistan in 176th place.
Denmark has ranked first in the index for the two last years. This year it shared to top score of 9.3 out of 10 with New Zealand and Sweden.
Yemen slid 10 places down the index list to 141st position on the global level this year.
On a regional level, Yemen ranked 17th and scored 2.3 points out of 10.
The first three countries in the region were Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, which scored 6.5, 5.9 and 5.5 respectively. On a global level, they ranked 28th, 35th and 40th in that order.
Bahrain was ranked 4th on a regional level and 43rd at the global level with 5.4 points
Jordan and Tunisia followed in 5th and 6th positions regionally, with 5.1 and 4.4 points each. The two countries ranked 47th and 60th globally.
Kuwait was ranked 7th in the region with 4.3 points, while Saudi Arabia was 8th with 3.5 points. The two Gulf countries were given 65th and 80th positions globally.
Morocco also scored 3.5 out of 10.
Algeria trailed slightly behind with 3.2 points in10th position on a regional level, and 92nd position overall.
Lebanon and Djibouti, both awarded 3 points, were 11th in the region and 102nd out of all countries surveyed.
Egypt and Mauritania received 2.8 points. They ranked 13th in the region and 115th overall.
Libya and Eritrea were allocated 15th position in the region and 126th place overall with 2.6 points out of 10.
Syria and Sudan scored a low 2.1 and 1.6 points respectively, and were ranked 18th and 19th in the region. Overall they ranked 147th and 173rd on the index.
Globally Israel ranked 30th with 6 points, while China came 72nd with 3.6 points.
The international watchdog group warned of the constant decline of the transparency indicator and the increase of the corruption rate in the poor countries surveyed.
It also stated that the situation in these countries amounts to a humanitarian disaster that threatens to divert the international efforts for antipoverty from their track.
TI called on donor countries to show precise direction in tackling the problem and to ensure that aid reached those who deserve it.
Hugo Label, the president of the organization, stated that eradicating corruption demands strong involvement from parliament, law-applying authorities, independent journalism and active civil society.
He added that corruption spirals out of control when institutions are weak, and creates harmful consequences for individuals, as well as for justice and equality in society.
Rampant corruption in low-income countries also jeopardizes the global fight against poverty and threatens to derail U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by adding up to USD 50 billion to the costs of implementing the MDGs, according to an estimate by Transparency International.
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