BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Feb 11, CMC – Barbados leads the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries in dealing with corruption, while Haiti remains rooted at the bottom of the table, according to the latest Corruption Perception Index (CPI) report released Tuesday by Transparency International.
Based on the 2024 report, Barbados was ranked 68th out of 180 countries, a change of minus one last year, meaning that it is ranked 23rd out of the countries surveyed followed by The Bahamas at 65, with a change of one and ranked 28th and St. Vincent and the Grenadines at number 63 with a change of three and ranked 32nd.
Dominica 60, with a change of four is ranked 36th , St. Lucia, 59, also with a change of four, is ranked 38th , Grenada, 56 with a change of three is ranked 46th , Jamaica 44 with no change from last year, remains at 73rd , while Trinidad and Tobago 41, with a change of minus one, is ranked 82nd followed by Suriname 40 with a change of without a change from last year, is ranked 88th.
Guyana 39 with a change of minus one from last year, is ranked 92nd and Haiti, 16 with a minus one from last year, is ranked 168th are the other CARICOM countries listed in the report, which notes that two of the biggest challenges humanity faces are strongly intertwined: corruption and the climate crisis.
It said while billions of people around the world face the daily consequences of climate change, resources for adaptation and mitigation remain woefully inadequate. Corruption intensifies these challenges, posing additional threats to vulnerable communities.
The report notes with a regional average score of 42 out of a possible 100 points, on the CPI, the Americas, including the Caribbean must take urgent action to control corruption. It said the absence of effective measures promotes human rights violations and increases the influence of economic and political elites and organised crime in public affairs.
Transparency International Said that leading the Americas region are Uruguay with a CPI score of 76, Canada (75) and Barbados (68) “ all relatively stable democracies with higher levels of transparency and participation.
“At the other end of the index, states ravaged by organised crime and human rights abuses hold the lowest scores. Haiti (16), Nicaragua (14) and Venezuela (10).
Under the heading “Shrinking civic space and restricted access to information” Transparency International notes that in Guyana “state capture by economic and political elites fosters misappropriation of resources, illicit enrichment and environmental crime.
“Although the country has created anti-corruption institutions and laws, transparency and law enforcement are very low and attacks on dissenting voices, activists and journalists increasingly common,” the report noted.
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