Economic crisis 'increased corruption'

The global financial crisis led to a rise in corruption in some richer countries, according to Transparency International which monitors corruption across the globe. The Berlin-based organization has just published its annual report.

In the annual report, Transparency International's latest Corruption Perceptions Index outlines some progress on fighting corruption around the world but it was uneven.

Take the South Asia region for example; India fell to number 87 as did Pakistan towards the bottom of the list, whilst Sri Lanka rose to 91.

There is however no progress across Africa as a whole with consistently the same level of corruption as last year. Meanwhile, Latin America's profile is helped by Chile and Uruguay near the top.

No change however for what are perceived as the most corrupt countries: Somalia, Burma and Afghanistan. Elsewhere the list yields unsurprising results: Iraq ranks lowest in the Middle East.

And Transparency International concludes that some countries in Europe have become more corrupt in the past year. Russia has fallen eight to number 154, and the report points out that corruption has increased significantly in the UK over the last five years.

As for the least corrupt countries, Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore come out on top again.

Launching the report, Transparency International's chairwoman said the vital issue was enforcement, without which all laws around the world are of little value.