Pakistan has slipped further in Transparency Internationals latest Corruption Perception Index (CPI 2021), with the opposition berating the Imran Khan-led government and demanding the Prime Minister’s resignation, Geo News reported.
Pakistan’s rank has fallen 16 places to 140 from 124 out of 180 countries, Transparency International’s report showed Tuesday.
In CPI 2021, Pakistan scored 28 out of 100.
“The index, which ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople, uses a scale of zero to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean,” the organisation said.
The top countries on the index are Denmark (88), Finland (88) and New Zealand (88), all of which also rank in the top 10 per cent in the world on the Democracy Index civil liberties score, it said.
Somalia (13), Syria (13) and South Sudan (11) remain at the bottom of the CPI. Syria is also ranked last in civil liberties, while Somalia and South Sudan were unrated, it added.
In response, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif said for the second consecutive year, Transparency International has “testified” that corruption during the incumbent government is a “thief and is corrupt”.
“The international organisation’s report is an indictment (against the government) and the corrupt rulers should resign. The country cannot bear their plundering anymore,” he said.
The Opposition leader said the Prime Minister’s “corruption rank” was increasing at a rapid pace, as he lamented that Pakistan’s further slip in the corruption perception index was unfortunate.