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Thinking of expanding your area of business? Considering going international with your services? Looking toward far off places, with dollar signs dancing in your eyes? Proceed cautiously, warns The Corruption Perception Index (CPI), and consider your destinations carefully.
The CPI is calculated annually by Berlin-based Transparency International and is designed to measure lost development opportunities due to corruption. Rates are assigned to countries on a 1-to-10 scale, with 1 connoting the highest level of corruption and 10 connoting the highest level of honesty and fair dealing.
Lowest on the numbers scale are those countries in which cultural customs of influence-buying and favoring friends are the most prevalent. But while bribes and nepotism are more commonly found in developing countries, a low CPI rating is not always indicative of governmental corruption. The corruption may instead emanate from multinational corporations utilizing kickbacks and bribes to purchase contracts in these still-developing areas of the world.
In the United States, bribes are not discussed openly; however, in Germany, a businessman is legally and openly able to deduct money spent on bribes from his income tax.
The latest survey ranked 52 nations and combined the results of seven international surveys. Those questioned included political analysts, business people and the general public.
Not surprisingly, Scandinavian countries claimed the three top-ranking spots. This is thought to be due to these country’s “open to the public” forms of government. Denmark, with a rating of 9.94, was rated highest. Finland followed at 9.48, and Sweden, at 9.35, took third place on the list. Coming in fourth and fifth were New Zealand with 9.23 and Canada at 9.10.
The 1996 survey placed Pakistan at a 1.00, however the 1997 survey showed a rise to 2.53, putting the Pakistanis in fifth place (from the bottom) this year. The rise was attributed to a major crack-down on corruption through new laws and numerous arrests.
Fourth place went to Russia (2.27), third place belonged to Columbia (2.23), and second place was given to Bolivia (2.05). The dubious honor (?) of first place was awarded to Nigeria for its score of 1.76.
The United States slipped ever so slightly from its 1996 total and scored 7.61.
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