Sri Lanka Slips in Global Corruption Ranking

COLOMBO (News 1st): Sri Lanka slipped two places in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) released by Transparency International, ranking 115th out of 180 countries in 2023. 

The CPI, which scores countries on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean), paints a bleak picture of corruption worldwide.

Sri Lanka has been ranked 115 alongside Ecuador, Indonesia, Malawi, the Philippines, and Turkey. 

Denmark leads the corruption perceptions index, followed by Finland, New Zealand, Norway, and Singapore. 

Somalia, Venezuela, Syria, South Sudan and Yemen take the bottom spots in the index. 

Over two-thirds of nations scored below 50, showcasing pervasive issues with public sector corruption. 

Notably, the global average score remained stagnant at 43, with most countries experiencing zero progress or even setbacks in the past decade.

Transparency International highlighted global trend of weakening justice systems is reducing accountability for public officials, which allows corruption to thrive.

Both authoritarian and democratic leaders are undermining justice. This is increasing impunity for corruption, and even encouraging it by eliminating consequences for criminals. Corrupt acts like bribery and abuse of power are also infiltrating many courts and other justice institutions across the globe. Where corruption is the norm, vulnerable people have restricted access to justice while the rich and powerful capture whole justice systems, at the expense of the common good.

Countries ranking high on the CPI have an impunity problem of their own, even if this isn’t reflected in their scores. Many cross-border corruption cases have involved companies from top-scoring countries that resort to bribery when doing business abroad. Others have implicated professionals who sell secrecy or otherwise enable foreign corrupt officials. And yet, top-scoring countries often fail to go after perpetrators of transnational corruption and their enablers.

Corruption will continue to thrive until justice systems can punish wrongdoing and keep governments in check. When justice is bought or politically interfered with, it is the people that suffer. Leaders should fully invest in and guarantee the independence of institutions that uphold the law and tackle corruption. It is time to end impunity for corruption.