Bangladesh has gone down one step in the global corruption perception index (CPI) 2021, ranking 147th among 180 countries.
The country’s position was 146th in 2020 in the CPI prepared by the Berlin-based Transparency International (TI) that indexes countries from the least corrupt to the most corrupt.
Counting from the bottom of the index, Bangladesh has been ranked 13th in the latest global CPI, which is one step worse than that recorded in 2020.
In South Asia, Bangladesh remains the 2nd lowest both in the CPI scoring and ranking – better than only Afghanistan, which has scored 16 and ranked 174th from the top, while Bhutan continues to score and rank the best –68 and 25th from the top respectively.
Bangladesh has ranked third from the bottom in Asia-Pacific, better than only Cambodia followed jointly by Afghanistan and North Korea.
The TI’s CPI 2021 shows Bangladesh's score at 26 out of 100, which is the same as in 2020, 2019 and 2018, but two points lower than in 2017.
The ten-year trend from 2012-2021 reveals that Bangladesh has stagnated at the score of 26, the global corruption watchdog says.
Terming the country’s performance ‘disappointing’, the TI observes that erosion of political integrity and linkage of politics with abuse of power, corruption and criminality are some reasons behind it.
The high-profile anti-corruption pledge was also not transformed into reality, it points out.
The TI has suggested effective delivery of zero tolerance against corruption without fear or favour to improve on the index.
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