Transparency International: Lebanon”s Corruption Scores Worsen
Lebanon saw its corruption rating slide this year after scoring 2.5 points down from 3.0 in 2008, according to Graft watchdog Transparency International.
Lebanon”s overall ranking in the Corruption Perceptions Index 2009 also worsened from 102nd last year to 130th this year.
The CPI ranks 180 countries by their perceived levels of corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys.
The most corrupt nation on earth remained Somalia, the impoverished and war-torn Horn of Africa state that has been without a functioning government for two decades, notching up a score of 1.1 points.
"The international community must find efficient ways to help war-torn countries to develop and sustain their own institutions," the Berlin-based group”s head Huguette Labelle said.
But it was not just countries struck by conflict that saw their ratings slide. Italy, a member of the Group of Seven rich countries came in at 63rd on the list, from 55th last year.
Fellow EU member Greece fared even worse, at 71st, slipping from 57th.
The United States inched up from 7.3 points to 7.5 but dropped one place in the rankings to 19th. China”s rating was stable at 3.6 points but also fall seven places to 79th.
Russia continued to be very low down in the list, coming in at 146th place, although its score edged higher to 2.2 points from 2.1 points.
The five countries seen as least afflicted by corruption were New Zealand, Denmark, Singapore, Sweden — and Switzerland.
New Zealand scored 9.4 points.