For the second straight year, Cambodia dropped in a global ranking of perceived corruption among the world’s governments, sinking below troubled countries such as Zimbabwe and Liberia.
In the 13th annual Corruption Perceptions Index, released Wednesday in London by Transparency International, Cambodia earned a score of 2 out of a possible 10, leaving it 162 out of 180 countries, a rank it shared with the Central African Republic, Papua New Guinea, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
With the exception of Laos, 1.9, and Burma, 1.4, all other Asean members fared better in the index. Singapore scored 9.4, Thailand 3.3, Vietnam 2.6 and Indonesia 2.3.
National Assembly President Nguon Nhel called the assessment unfair.
The index is generated by compiling data from 14 different sources, including country assessments from the Asian Development Bank and World Bank and risk assessments from the Economist Intelligence Unit and the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy.
According to Transparency International, the index measures “the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians.”
Nguon Nhel said the information that was provided to the corruption index came from development partners who were disparaging Cambodia even as they provided assistance.
“It is not acceptable,” he said.
“They help us but they evaluate us in an incorrect way.”
The 2007 ranking, Cambodia’s third appearance on the list, confirmed a downward trend as it represented a decrease of 0.1 over last year’s score, and 0.3 from 2005.
(Additional reporting by Chhay Channyda)
