Seychelles’ ranking in corruption perception index improves to 36 |23 February 2018
Seychelles’ ranking in the annual corruption index, released by Berlin-based non-government organisation Transparency International (TI) has improved to 36th out of 180 countries with a score of 60.
This is Seychelles’ best performance since the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) rankings started in 1995. The worst ranking for Seychelles was in 2006 where it scored 36 points only and landed in 63rd place out of 163 countries.
The index, which measures perception of corruption in the public sector, uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.
New Zealand and Singapore scored the highest scores with 89 and 84 out of 100, respectively. Somalia was found to be the most corrupt country in the world. A majority of the world’s countries scored below 50 on the index with the global average score coming at around 43. Seychelles’ score of 60 puts it well above the average score of 43.
Transparency International said the results from the 2017 index show that corruption in many countries is still strong. In some countries across the Asia-Pacific region, journalists, activists, opposition leaders and even staff of law enforcement or watchdog agencies are threatened, and in worst cases, even murdered, the report stated.
First launched in 1995, the Corruption Perceptions Index aims to bring to light the perceived levels of public sector corruption and has been widely credited with putting the issue of corruption on the international policy agenda, capturing the informed views of analysts, business people and experts in countries around the world.
The CPI is a composite index, a poll of polls, drawing on corruption-related data from expert and business surveys carried out by a variety of independent institutions.
The Seychelles’ CPI 2017 index has been measured using data from four separate sources of information: World Economic Forum EOS, Global Insight Country Risk Rating, Varieties of Democracy (VDEM) Project and the Economist Intelligence Unit Country Risk Rating.
Transparency Initiatives Seychelles notes that the CPI is limited in scope, capturing perceptions of the extent of corruption in the public sector only, from the perspective of business people and country experts.
“Corruption generally comprises illegal activities, which are deliberately hidden and only come to light through scandals, investigations or prosecution, as we Transparency Initiatives Seychelles have seen in recent months in Seychelles,” Transparency Initiatives Seychelles has said.
It adds that while the CPI index does not assess absolute levels of corruption in any given country, it gives it a starting point from which it can build and improve on.
TI Seychelles has re-iterated its commitment in advocating against corruption which ultimately poses the greatest threat to our country’s prosperity.