Transparency International released its annual report Corruption Perceptions Index of 2021 and Lebanon was placed on the 154th position out of 180 countries.
Lebanon scored 24 out of 100, with 100 being very clean and 0 very corrupt. Lebanon’s score is six points lower than in 2012 (30 out of 24)
When asked by a social media user what data it uses to determine the ranks, Transparency International said, “Each country’s score is a combination of at least 3 data sources drawn from 13 different corruption surveys and assessments. These data sources are collected by a variety of reputable institutions, including the World Bank and the World Economic Forum.”
In Lebanon, the Lebanese Transparency Association (LTA), an association related to Transparency International, explained that ranking during a press conference, with the following:
“The Corruption Perception Index to measure the level of corruption in Lebanon depends on several manifestations of corruption, most notably the government ability on curbing corruption, impose effective mechanism to establish integrity in the public sector, and criminal production for corrupted, in addition to effective anti-corruption laws and the ability of the civil society to acquire and obtain information in the public sector.”
Although many laws have passed in the last two years, according to LTA, they haven’t been enforced.
That is to add to Lebanon’s major deficiencies in financial transparency.
An example of such, which was given during that press conference, is the Lebanese parliament adopting in June 2021 a new public procurement law in an attempt to restore confidence in the government after the Beirut Blast.
However, that law “has disturbing loopholes that allow information, conflicts of interests and company owners to remain hidden, among other gaps such as not accounting for the role of civil society organizations,” LTA said.
Transparency International has ranked Denmark, Finland, and New Zealand on the very top position in its annual report (88/100 for all three). Somalia, Syria, and South Sudan ranked as the most corrupted (scoring 13, 13, 11 respectively)
