Armenia is again ahead of Azerbaijan in Corruption Perceptions Index according to Transparency International
Transparency International presented the annual Corruption Perceptions Index, according to which Armenia is ranked the 94th with 37 points. Among the countries in the region Georgia is on the 50th place (52 points), Turkey is on the 64th place (45 points), Azerbaijan - 126th place (29 points), Iran - 136 (27 points). Russia is on the 136th place with 27 points too. This rating is published on the Transparency International website.
Denmark is on the first place with 92 points. New Zealand is the second with 91 points. Finland is on the third place with 89 points. On the last places are North Korea and Somalia (both 8 points).
The annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) of the non-governmental organization Transparency International, that is based in Berlin, reflects the extent of corruption in the public sector on a scale from 0 (the highest level of perceived corruption) to 100 (the lowest level of perceived corruption). The index is a combination of surveys and relies on corruption related to the field of data collected by different organizations. In this year the ranking covered 174 countries.
In compiling the rankings of the Transparency International all forms of corrupt activities are considered, including the bribes given to officials, participation of the officials in the distribution of profits from the performance of government contracts, as well as illegal or unfair budget spending. The effectiveness of anti-corruption measures is also assessed by the government.
"Corruption Perceptions Index 2014 shows that economic development is impossible and efforts against corruption are futile when the leaders and senior officials abuse the power in order to get their hands on public funds for personal gain," said the chairman of Transparency International José Ugaz.
In its turn, the Azerbaijani news agency "Turan" notes that Azerbaijan is ranked 126 out of 175 participants, and last year he was on the 127th place out of 177 participants, which means two steps back. "The research is carried out for the 20th time already and reflects the extent of corruption in the public sector on a scale from 0 (the highest level of perceived corruption) to 100 (lowest). This means that Azerbaijan is rated far below the average. Togo, Gambia and Honduras became its neighbors with the same points," reads the publication.
According to the founder of the Center for Economic Research Gubad Ibadoglu, the lack of progress of the country's position in the "Corruption Perceptions Index" reflects the negative trends with corruption component. "Recently conducted surveys show that almost 85% of the local population believes that the main reason of impediment of development is the corruption. This was most clearly seen during the flood in 2010, when the government allocated and drew over a half billion manats on paper (about $ 1 billion.), after which the active layers of Sabirabad, Salyanski, Neftechalinski and Saatlinski people by the help of the civil society site "Kura" initiated a series of lawsuits against the Ministry of Emergency Situations and local executive authorities," he noted.