By Awaam
In the middle of all chaos and crises, the report of escalating level of corruption is yet another threat to Pakistan and its common people. The corruption index report issued by the Transparency International yesterday has revealed that Pakistan has moved up on the ranking of most corrupt countries in the year 2010. According to the report it has climbed up to the 34th rank in 2010 from the 47th in last year. The speedy growth in country’s corruption level is alarming. While this may also be merely the perception, but the fact is that perception matters.
Even If the growing corruption is a perception, it has caused immense damage to the country in many ways the loss of trust and respect in the comity of nations is one to top them all. Besides, the drop in foreign direct investment is also a result of it, which fell down to $2.21 billion in the current fiscal year from the $371 billion in the previous year. The budget deficits stay on an average of 6.4 percent of the GDP, which is twice as high as the average of the Asian developing countries, causing the countries public debt to rise. Dr. Ashfaque Hassan khan, a renowned economist of Pakistan, stressed in his article that Pakistan added Rs 4,099 billion in public debt, as opposed to Rs 4,814 billion in the previous 60 years, which he terms as the height of fiscal irresponsibility.
This situation can not be a result of only the economic slump, whilst the real problem is that of mismanagement and corruption where the other problems stem from. The increasing corruption coupled with the poor governance and incompetent institutions, hence becomes even more perilous for the future of the country. The government critically needs to take measures to counter the impact of rising levels of corruption and its perception; and act to fulfill the oath our leaders took to save the dignity and esteem of the nation.
Here we are posting some parts and figures from the corruption index report released by the Transparency International. for complete report please click here
TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY ARE CRITICAL TO RESTORING TRUST AND TURNING BACK THE TIDE OF CORRUPTION
With governments committing huge sums to tackle the world’s most pressing problems, from the instability of financial markets to climate change and poverty, corruption remains an obstacle to achieving much needed progress.
The 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index shows that nearly three quarters of the 178 countries in the index score below five, on a scale from 10 (very clean) to 0 (highly corrupt). These results indicate a serious corruption problem.
To address these challenges, governments need to integrate anti-corruption measures in all spheres, from their responses to the financial crisis and climate change to commitments by the international community to eradicate poverty. Transparency International advocates stricter implementation of the UN Convention against Corruption, the only global initiative that provides a framework for putting an end to corruption.
Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore are tied at the top of the list with a score of 9.3, followed closely by Finland and Sweden at 9.2. At the bottom is Somalia with a score of 1.1, slightly trailing Myanmar and Afghanistan at 1.4 and Iraq at 1.5.
Notable among decliners over the past year are some of the countries most affected by a financial crisis precipitated by transparency and integrity deficits. Among those improving in the past year, the general absence of OECD states underlines the fact that all nations need to bolster their good governance mechanisms.
The message is clear: across the globe, transparency and accountability are critical to restoring trust and turning back the tide of corruption. Without them, global policy solutions to many global crises are at risk.
Awaam by Vision21 