Global graft ranking disproves charge that corruption is rising: govt
Opposition claims that corruption is rising in Thailand are disproved by its rising rank on Transparency International’s global index of corruption last year, government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri said on Thursday.
Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha places great importance on the fight against corruption and regards it as a national priority, Anucha said.
“All state agencies have been instructed to work with transparency and are subject to oversight ... Digital technology has been adopted so that the public can monitor the work of government agencies,” the spokesman said.
Thailand rose by nine places in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) last year. The Berlin-based organisation ranks 180 countries based on their perceived level of corruption.
Thailand rose from 110 in 2021 to 101 on the index last year, Anucha said, adding that its score rose from 35 to 36. The best score is 100.
Thailand came fourth among the 10 members of Asean, following Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam.
The CPI measures include perceived levels of bribery, diversion of public funds for personal use, the government’s capacity to curb irregularities, and legal protection for whistleblowers.
The score of each country surveyed is based on a combination of at least three data sources drawn from 13 different corruption surveys and assessments, Transparency International says. The data sources are collected by a variety of reputable institutions, including the World Bank and the World Economic Forum, it says.
Among the nine data sources used for the corruption-perception survey in Thailand last year, the kingdom earned better scores from two sources – the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook (up from 39 to 43 points) and the World Economic Forum (up from 42 to 45), Anucha said.
The country’s scores remained unchanged from five sources – Varieties of Democracy Institute (26 points), Bertelsmann Foundation Transformation Index (37), Economist Intelligence Unit Country Risk Ratings (37), Global Insight Country Risk Ratings (35), and PRS International Country Risk Guide (32).
The score declined from two other sources – Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (down from 36 to 35) and the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index (down from 35 to 34).
The 2022 CPI index showed that the world’s least corrupt country was Denmark, with a score of 90 points. It was followed by Finland and New Zealand at 87 each, and Singapore in fourth place with 83 points.
The global average score, 43, has remained unchanged for over a decade, and more than two-thirds of the 180 countries surveyed score below 50, according to Transparency International. It said most of the world was still failing to fight corruption – 95% of countries have made little or no progress since 2017.
Thailand has seen fluctuating CPI scores over the years. The country was ranked 85th in 2014, following a military coup led by General Prayut when he was the Army chief, up from 102nd a year earlier.
The country’s ranking jumped to 76th in 2015 but plunged to 101st place the following year. It recovered to 96th in 2017 but then slid to 99th place in 2018, 101st in 2019, 104th in 2020 and 110th in 2021.
