Vietnam ranked the 123rd among 176 countries surveyed in Corruption Perceptions Index 2012 conducted by the Transparency International (TI).
With 31/100 points, Vietnam was among two thirds of the polled countries that scored less than 50 points.
Up to 68 Asia-pacific countries scored less than 50, including Vietnam
According to the TI, corruption in public services remains a major problem in Vietnam and the country’s anti-corruption efforts have brought scant successes.
Vietnam should take stronger anti-corruption measures to avoid its negative impact on the national economy, TI said.
The Corruption Perceptions Index 2012 was conducted according to a new method, based on a scale from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 100 (perceived to be very clean), and shows that public institutions need to be more transparent, and powerful officials more accountable.
TI said this year’s ranking was incomparable with that of 2011 and previous years. However, countries, including Vietnam, could use the 2012 points to compare with their ranking in the coming years.
The Corruption Perception Index 2011 showed that Vietnam gained 2.9 points among the 10-point scale, standing 112th out of 183 surveyed.
Towards Transparency (TT) - TI National Contact in Vietnam – praised the efforts and commitments made by the Communist Party, National Assembly and government in combating corruption. However, it said, more practical measures should be introduced to gain better results and consolidate people’s trust in the government’s anti-corruption efforts.
The organisation said it believed that improving transparency in the public sector and central and local administration agencies was the key solution. Furthermore, it remained essential to increase public access to information and create favourable conditions for public, the media workers and public sector to participate in the fight against corruption.
According to the Corruption Perception Index for 2012, Denmark, Finland and New Zealand shared joint top position in this year’s rankings, scoring 90, followed by Sweden and Singapore. Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia shared bottom place, scoring 8 points each.
