Transparency International, the global anti-corruption organisation, released its 22nd annual Corruption Perceptions Index on 25 January 2017. The index ranks 176 countries/territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption. The Corruption Perceptions Index is the leading global indicator of public sector corruption, offering a yearly snapshot of the relative degree of corruption by ranking countries from all over the globe.
The FYR of Macedonia ranked 90th with a score of 37, indicating a serious corruption problem in the country.
Transparency International and its chapter in the FYR of Macedonia fully support the findings of the 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index.
Following reports in the FYR of Macedonia that have painted a wrong picture of the Corruption Perceptions Index’s methodology, Transparency International would like to clarify how individual country scores are constructed.
The Corruption Perceptions Index is a composite index, a combination of different international surveys and assessments of corruption, collected by a variety of reputable institutions. The index draws on 13 surveys from independent institutions specialising in governance and business climate analysis covering expert assessments and views of businesspeople. None of these surveys were commissioned by Transparency International.
The score for the FYR of Macedonia was aggregated from seven data sources, including the Economist Intelligence Unit, the World Economic Forum, Freedom House and Global Insight Country Risk Rating.
The index is independent, non-political and non-partisan. Transparency International Macedonia has no influence on the data or the scores and neither do any of the donors who support Transparency International.
Transparency International emphasised that the results of the Corruption Perceptions Index 2016 show there are strong warning signs around the world that the move to crack down on freedoms, including the space for civil society, can have negative effects on the fight against corruption.
“Only where there is freedom of expression, transparency in all political processes and strong democratic institutions, can civil society and the media hold those in power to account and corruption be fought successfully,” said José Ugaz, Chair of Transparency International.
“The poor score for Macedonia indicates a need to strengthen and protect the space for civil society not weaken it. This is the message of the Corruption Perceptions Index,” said Slagjana Taseva, Chair of Transparency International Macedonia.
Links to the underlying data sources and a description of the methodology can be found here.
Transparency International is a global movement sharing one vision: a world in which government, business, civil society and the daily lives of people are free of corruption. Through more than 100 national chapters worldwide and an international secretariat in Berlin, we work with partners in government, business and civil society to put effective measures in place to tackle corruption. We are politically non-partisan and place great importance on our independence.
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