Taliban-ruled Afghanistan falls 12 places to 162 in global corruption index
Taliban-ruled Afghanistan has fallen 12 places down to 162 in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2023 compared to the previous year, Transparency International said in a report released Tuesday.
More details in the following report:
In a new report released by the Transparency International, Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban, has been ranked 162 in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) in 2023 with 20 points.
According to the report published on Tuesday, in 2023, Taliban-ruled Afghanistan has scored 20 points out of 100 in the fight against corruption. The Southeast Asian country had scored 24 points in the previous year, occupying the 150th place.
The organisation uses the CPI to determine the perceived levels of public sector corruption in 180 countries/territories around the world, giving them points from 0 to 100.
In the new ranking, Afghanistan is placed above countries including Libya, Turkmenistan, North Korea, Yemen, and Syria.
Denmark tops the index for the sixth consecutive year with 90 points, and Finland, New Zealand and Norway occupy the second, third and fourth places respectively.
“Corruption will continue to thrive until justice systems can punish wrongdoing and keep governments in check,” said Francois Valerian, Chair of Transparency International.
He further added: “When justice is bought or politically interfered with, it is the people who suffer.”
Valerian also emphasized that the leaders should fully invest in and guarantee the independence of institutions that uphold the law and tackle corruption, urging that “It is time to end impunity for corruption.”
The news comes despite the fact that the Taliban government has repeatedly claimed that administrative corruption in Afghanistan is close to zero after their assumption of power.
In response to this report, Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief spokesman of the Taliban, wrote in a post on X: “Afghanistan is a corruption-free country. In the calculation of Transparency International, Afghanistan ranks 162, which is a good position.”
It is worth mentioning that, overall, Arab countries performed badly in this year’s index, with an average score of 34/100, with high levels of political corruption that have hindered anti-corruption efforts.
Transparency International (TI) is a leading global civil society organization that measures and combats corruption. It was founded in 1993 in Berlin, Germany, and has since become a trusted source of information and analysis on corruption.
