KARACHI: Pakistan has failed to make any improvement on the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) in 2022 as it retained its rank, 140, among 180 countries in the world.

According to details, the CPI ranks 180 countries and territories around the world by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, scoring on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).

Pakistan’s score dropped to 27 from 28 last year while its rank remained unchanged. In 2021, the country slipped 16 places to 140 from 124 out of 180 countries.

In the report, Transparency International said that the country has continued its statistically significant downward trend, this year hitting its lowest score since 2012 at just 27 points amidst ongoing political turmoil.

“In 2018, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan took the reins of the country promising to combat widespread corruption and promote reforms on the socio-economic fronts but no significant improvement was made,” said the watchdog.

“After he was ousted in a no confidence vote this April, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) disqualified him from running for office for another five years and filed a plea in session court for criminal proceedings over allegations he failed to declare gifts and profits he made from selling them during his tenure,” it added.

The report stated that incumbent government must make sure that it “does not allow such political scandals to derail comprehensive anti-corruption efforts” and stressed that it was time for the country to take “concrete action with a holistic and effective anti-corruption plan that addresses illicit financial flows and introduces safeguards for civic space”.

The 2022 edition of the CPI ranked 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, drawing on 13 expert assessments and surveys of business executives.

The Transparency International report revealed that ninety-five percent of the countries have failed to reduce corruption, and corruption has become a serious problem in two-thirds of the countries.

Published in The Daily National Courier, February, 01 2023

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