BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – Barbados has been ranked as the highest Caribbean country in the latest Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) Report 2021 released on Tuesday.
Graphic illustrating how Caribbean countries placed in the ranking. (Transparency International photo)According to the Report, Barbados had a score of 65, one up from last year and the country remains ranked at 29 out of the 187 countries surveyed. .
The Bahamas is the second ranked Caribbean country with a score of 64, one up from last year, and a ranking of 30, while St Vincent and the Grenadines’ score remains at 59 and ranking 36.
Dominica’s score remains at 55 and but it now ranks at 45, with Grenada also retaining a score of 53 and ranked at 52.
Jamaica’s score also remains at 44 but its rank went up by one to 70, while Trinidad and Tobago edged out Guyana this year as it score increased by one to 41 and it is now ranked at 82.
Guyana went down by two points with a score of 39 with a rank of 87. But the country tops the list of countries that have made significantly positive improvements over the years becoming one of the better performing countries.
Haiti was ranked Haiti 164 with a score of 20
“These countries significantly improved in the last 10 years: Afghanistan, Angola, Armenia, Austria, Belarus, China, Cote d’Ivoire, Estonia, Ethiopia, Greece, Guyana, Italy, Latvia, Moldova, Myanmar, Nepal, Paraguay, Senegal, Seychelles, South Korea, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Vietnam,” the report stated.
However, the report also notes that the battle against corruption is faltering with 86 percent of countries making little to no progress in the last 10 years.
The Report notes that at the top of the CPI, countries in Western Europe and the European Union continue to wrestle with transparency and accountability in their response to the coronavirus (COVID-19), threatening the region’s clean image.
In parts of Asia Pacific, the Americas, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, increasing restrictions on accountability measures and basic civil freedoms allow corruption to go unchecked. Even historically high-performing countries are showing signs of decline.
According to the report a country’s score is the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0-100, where 0 means highly corrupt and 100 means very clean.
In the last decade, 154 countries have either declined or made no significant progress.
According to the Report, as anti-corruption efforts stagnate worldwide, human rights and democracy are also under assault.
“This is no coincidence. Our latest analysis shows that protecting human rights is crucial in the fight against corruption: countries with well-protected civil liberties generally score higher on the CPI, while countries who violate civil liberties tend to score lower,” according to the Report, noting that the global COVID-19 pandemic has also been used in many countries as an excuse to curtail basic freedoms and side-step important checks and balances.
Transparency International calls on governments to act on their anti-corruption and human rights commitments and for people across the globe to join together in demanding change.
The Report noted that since its inception in 1995, the CPI has become the leading global indicator of public sector corruption.
“The Index scores 180 countries and territories around the world based on perceptions of public sector corruption, using data from 13 external sources, including the World Bank, World Economic Forum, private risk and consulting companies, think tanks and others. The scores reflect the views of experts and business people,” the Report said.
