Bangkok Post9/04/2009
SINGAPORE / Indonesia and Thailand are perceived as Asia's most corrupt economies, with last year's cellar-dweller the Philippines making a marked improvement, an annual survey of foreign business executives shows.
Singapore and Hong Kong retained their rankings as the region's least corrupt economies, although there are concerns about private-sector fraud, according to the survey by the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (Perc).
Despite the negative perception of Indonesia, Perc noted ``there has been a real headway in fighting the problem'' under President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is seeking re-election in July's presidential polls.
``The absolute scores show corruption in the public and private sectors is still very high,'' Perc said.
``But our latest survey shows that residents in Indonesia are more favourably impressed with the determined way the KPK (anti-corruption commission) has been fighting corruption than any of the other countries graded poorly for corruption.''
It said the major question its respondents are asking in Indonesia is whether the anti-corruption efforts can be sustained.
The March results are based on more than 1,700 responses from 14 Asian economies plus Australia and the United States, which were included for comparison purposes. In a grading system with zero as the best possible score and 10 the worst, Indonesia got 8.32.
Thailand was seen as the second most corrupt country with a grade of 7.63, but Perc said foreign investors were more concerned about political stability.
``Very few expatriate executives find that corruption makes the country a less attractive place to live and do business,'' it said.
Cambodia was third-worst at 7.25, followed by India with 7.21 and Vietnam with 7.11.
A grade above 7.0 indicates that a ``serious'' corruption problem exists, Perc said. A score between 4.0 and 7.0 indicates a ``moderate'' level of corruption.
Perceived as Asia's most corrupt country in the 2008 survey, the Philippines had a score of 7.0 to rank sixth from the bottom this year.
The Philippine customs and tax agencies, police and politicians have the meanest reputation for corruption in the country, the consultancy said.
But while ``there is very little confidence in the government's seriousness about fighting the problem,'' Perc also said that ``the actual level of corruption is not as bad as it is often portrayed''.
Singapore again topped the survey as Asia's least corrupt country with a score of 1.07, followed by Hong Kong with 1.89.
Australia scored 2.40 to rank in third place followed by the United States with a score of 2.89.
The recession's impact on regional financial centres Singapore and Hong Kong would increase public-sector corruption there, Perc said.
No comments:
Post a Comment