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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Jordan ranked 58 out of a total of 176 countries surveyed world-wide in the 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index published by Transparency International.

Jordan improved 3 points this year in comparison to 2011, and ranked 3rd regionally after Arab countries including Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (1st regionally, #27 worldwide) and Bahrain (2nd regionally, 53 worldwide).

Jordan scored 48 out of 100 in the Corruption Perceptions Index in the perceived level of public sector corruption, where 0 is perceived as highly corrupt and 100 is perceived as very clean.

In the Corruption Perceptions Index 2012 Denmark, Finland and New Zealand tie for first place with scores of 90, helped by strong access to information systems and rules governing the behaviour of those in public positions.

Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia once again cling to the bottom rung of the index. In these countries the lack of accountable leadership and effective public institutions underscore the need to take a much stronger stance against corruption.
Regionally, Oman ranked 4th (61 worldwide), followed by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait (66 worldwide), then Tunisia, Morocco, Djibouti, Algeria, Egypt, Mauritania, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, LIbya, Iraq, followed by Sudan (173 worldwide) and Somalia (174 worldwide).

A growing outcry over corrupt governments forced several leaders from office last year, but as the dust has cleared it has become apparent that the levels of bribery, abuse of power and secret dealings are still very high in many countries. Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index 2012 shows corruption continues to ravage societies around the world, Transparency International said in a press statement.

Two thirds of the 176 countries ranked in the 2012 index score below 50, on a scale from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 100 (perceived to be very clean), showing that public institutions need to be more transparent, and powerful officials more accountable.

“Governments need to integrate anti-corruption actions into all public decision-making. Priorities include better rules on lobbying and political financing, making public spending and contracting more transparent and making public bodies more accountable to people,” said Huguette Labelle, the Chair of Transparency International.

“After a year of focus on corruption, we expect governments to take a tougher stance against the abuse of power. The Corruption Perceptions Index 2012 results demonstrate that societies continue to pay the high cost of corruption,” Labelle said.

Many of the countries where citizens challenged their leaders to stop corruption –from the Middle East to Asia to Europe – have seen their positions in the index stagnate or worsen.

The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) scores and ranks countries and territories based on how corrupt a country's public sector is perceived to be. It is a composite index, a combination of surveys and assessments of corruption, collected by a variety of reputable institutions, Transparency International said.

CPI is based only on perceptions as corruption generally comprises illegal activities, which are deliberately hidden and only come to light through scandals, investigations and prosecutions, and no precise method can assess absolute levels of corruption on the basis of hard empirical data.