Corruption Perception Index 2018 – Global, South America and Peru

Transparency International just recently published the 2018 Corruption Perception Index and even though efforts are made in Peru, the country failed to make any progress in the area and once again ended in the bottom half of the list.

What is the Corruption Perception Index?

The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is an index published annually by Transparency International since 1995. It ranks 180 countries and territories around the world by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople. The CPI generally defines corruption as the misuse of public power for private benefit. It uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.

Global Corruption Perception Index 2018

Overall the CPI 2018 revealed that most countries fail to control corruption or make serious inroads against corruption. Since 2012 only 20 countries significantly improved their scores while 16 countries significantly decreased theirs. The majority of countries have seen little or no progress in the past years. Globally more than two-thirds of countries score below 50 on this year’s CPI, with an average score of just 43.

Source: Transparency International

South America Corruption Perception Index 2018

In South America the situation is with an average score of 39.4 even worse. 10 out of 12 countries score at or below the global average, 8 out of 12 below the South American average.

The 2018 scores of the 2 least corrupt and 2 most corrupt countries in South America remained the same compared to 2017, while only 3 countries could improve their score and 5 (including Peru) performed worse than the year before.

The top (least corrupt) countries in South America are Uruguay (global rank 23 out of 180) and Chile (global rank 27 out of 180) scoring high above the global average, while the bottom countries are Paraguay (global rank 132 out of 180) and Venezuela (global rank 168 out of 180)

1. Uruguay: global rank 23, score 70 (2017 score 70)
2. Chile: global rank 27, score 67 (2017 score 67)
3. Suriname: global rank 73, score 43 (up from 2017 score 41)
4. Argentina: global rank 85, score 40, (up from 2017 score 39)
5. Guyana: global rank 93, score 37 (down from 2017 score 38)
6. Colombia: global rank 99, score 36 (down from 2017 score 37)
7. Peru: global rank 105, score 35 (down from 2017 score 37)
8. Brazil: global rank 105, score 35 (down from 2017 score 37)
9. Ecuador: global rank 114, score 34 (up from 2017 score 32)
10. Bolivia: global rank 132, score 29 (down from 2017 score 33)
11. Paraguay: global rank 132, score 29 (2017 score 29)
12. Venezuela: global rank 168, score 18 (2017 score 18)

Peru Corruption Perception Index 2018

For years corruption is a major topic in Peru and each government promises to put an end to it; the last one current President Martín Vizcarra and his government who put the fight against corruption high on the political agenda.

While the country still battles to work through the Odebrecht scandal (up until now four former Peruvian Heads-of-State including Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006), Alan Garcia (2006-2011), Ollanta Humala (2011-2016) and his wife as well as Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016 – 2017), numerous politicians including Keiko Fujimori, daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori and powerful opposition leader in Congress, high-ranking officials, judges, lawyers and public servants were investigated and sentenced or are still under investigation for taking bribes from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht and others), in May 2018 the new government under President Martín Vizcarra signed the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, an important step toward fighting corruption. In December of last year, a by the President Vizcarra proposed constitutional referendum on political and judicial reforms seen by most as measure to end corruption in the country and earn back the people’s trust in the state was held.

But despite all these efforts to fight corruption in the country, Peru failed to make any progress. The country only scored 35 points out of 100 in the Corruption Perception Index 2018 – way below the global and South American average and even two points below the 2017 CPI score – ranking on position 105 out of 180 globally (down 9 positions compared to 2017) and 7 out of 12 in South America.

Source: Transparency International / Peru Telegraph

So overall lots remain to be done for Peru to become a less corrupt country.