20 Oct 2007

Tonga and Papua New Guinea score badly in Transparency International index

10:15 am on 20 October 2007

Papua New Guinea's level of corruption has worsened this year, according to watchdog Transparency International Global corruption perception index or CPI.

This year, PNG was rated 16th out of 179 countries surveyed, scoring two out of 10 and one of only two countries from the Pacific to come in the lower bracket with Tonga scoring 1.7 and ranked as the sixth most corrupt country.

The Post Courier paper says that last year, PNG ran 130 out of 163 countries surveyed making it the 29th most corrupt country.

Meanwhile, Transparency International says that it is ultimately the responsibility of poor countries to tackle the problem.

TI says that low scores in the CPI indicate that public institutions are heavily compromised.