Islamabad:
Pakistan has fallen further in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for 2024 and slipped to 135th place out of 180 countries.
The drip marks a decrease from its 133. Position in 2023, which strengthens concern to elaborate on corruption and weakened governance.
The ranking is based on data collected from eight independent sources.
The country’s total corruption score has dropped to 27 compared to 29 in 2023, signaling a further erosion of institutional transparency.
The Berlin-based Watchdog’s report highlighted alarming trends and revealed a stagnation in litigation and sanctions against officials who abused power, with the scoring back firmly at 21.
Abuse of public resources has deteriorated, which is reflected in the fact that its index result decreases from 20 to 18. Bribery and corrupt business practices have also intensified, with the scoring decreasing from 35 to 32.
Corruption within the political system has shown a slight increase and increases from 32 to 33.
Meanwhile, government institutions’ responsibility is further eroded, with powerful interest groups that tightened their grip on the state and push the index from 35 to 39.
However, the redirection of public funds to individuals and private companies has seen a sharp decrease in transparency due to corruption, with its score dusting from 45 to 33.
Abuse of state resources from leaders, the judiciary, the military and the legislators of personal gain has also increased, which indicated by an increase in the index from 25 to 26.
Corruption in the public sector, executive, judiciary and legislature has reached new low low, with the scoring, which fell from 20 to 14, painting a bleak picture of governance and institutional integrity.
According to the report, some of the world’s most corrupt countries include South Sudan, Somalia and Venezuela. Corruption has also risen in Iran, Iraq and Russia, with Moscow, now located 154.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan at 165. And Bangladesh at 151. Iran and Iraq are located at 151 and 140 ..
Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) clarified that it does not play any role in data collection or score calculation, as CPI is assembled based on independent sources that evaluate governance and anti-corruption measures globally.
Tip President Justice (RETD) Zia Perwez noted that most countries in the region, except Oman, China, Turkey and Mongolia, saw a fall in their score where Pakistan was no exception.
“The reduction in the region shows that Pakistan is one of the countries holding the overall trend,” Perwez said without elaborating on any significant improvements in the country’s government structure.
