Syria, which is ruled by the Assad regime, was at the tail end of a list issued by Transparency International on Tuesday. Transparency International monitors transparency and corruption criteria across 180 countries.
According to the organization’s report, Syria came 178th, scoring 13 out of 100. Libya was in 179th place and Somalia was last.
The United Arab Emirates came in 23rd place with a score of 70, making it the least corrupt Arab country. Denmark and New Zealand had the best results, with scores of 88 and 87 respectively.
Delia Ferreira, head of the Berlin-based organization, said that, “Corruption is much more likely to flourish where democratic foundations are weak.”
The report added that, “Countries with high levels of corruption could pose a danger to political opponents. All the countries where political killings are ordered by the authorities are classified as highly corrupt on the Global Transparency Index.”
The index, which is issued annually by Transparency International, judges corruption in countries using a number of assessments and evaluations, which are gathered through data sources from various institutions, including: the World Economic Forum, World Vision, Bertelsmann Foundation, the International Institute of Administrative Sciences, the Economist Intelligence Unit, the Political Risk Services Group and the Varieties of Democracy (The Wise Democracy Project) .
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
