St. Lucia’s ranking in perceived levels of corruption remains unchanged in 2013 as compared to 2012, Transparency International’s newly released annual Corruption Perceptions Index has revealed.
According to the report, released on Tuesday, St. Lucia is ranked 22 in the world with an index score of 71, retaining the same ranking and score of 2012. St. Lucia is tied with The Bahamas, Chile and France.
Meanwhile, neighbours Dominica also retained the same ranking and score of 2012 with 41 and a score of 58.
The report gives countries higher scores for lower levels of perceived public sector corruption.
The index score goes from 0, meaning a country is perceived as highly corrupt, to 100, meaning it is perceived as very clean.
According to Transparency International, “corruption remains a global threat.”
“The Corruption Perceptions Index 2013 serves as a reminder that the abuse of power, secret dealings and bribery continue to ravage societies around the world,” the organization said in its report. “No country has a perfect score, and two-thirds of countries score below 50. This indicates a serious, worldwide corruption problem.”
The organization went on to say, “the world urgently needs a renewed effort to crack down on money laundering, clean up political finance, pursue the return of stolen assets and build more transparent public institutions.”
The rankings and score for the entire Caribbean also remain unchanged, according to the report.
It reveals that Barbados has the lowest level of perceived corruption with a ranking of 15 (index score 75), with Haiti the highest, with a rank of 163 (index score 19).
Puerto Rico and St. Vincent are both ranked at 33.
A total of 177 countries and territories worldwide were ranked.
See the full list of rankings below for the Caribbean, from lowest level of perceived corruption to hightest (index scores are in brackets).
Barbados….15 (75)
Bahamas…..22 (71)
St. Lucia…22 (71)
Puerto Rico..33 (62)
St. Vincent..33 (62)
Dominica…..41 (58)
Cuba ……..63 (46)
T&T……….83 ((38)
Jamaica……83 (38)
Dominican Republic ..123 (29)
Haiti……163. (19)