Corruption growing in Nepal: TI report

The Transparency International‘s global Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2007 published on Wednesday shows that corruption in Nepal is growing over the past three years.

Nepal ranks 131st in the list of least corrupt nations in the world, with a score of 2.5 on the 0-10 scale. Nepal’s CPI in 2004 was 2.8.

Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan have been listed as the most corrupt nations in South Asia with 2.2, 2.0 and 1.8 points respectively while Bhutan, with 5.0 points, ranks as the least corrupt country in the South Asian region.

The TI report lists Denmark, Finland and New Zealand as the cleanest nations with 9.4 points each. African country Somalia tops the list of corrupt nations (1.4) while the military-ruled Asian country Myanmar ranks 168th with 1.4 score.

With 3.5 points each, neighboring China and India rank 72nd in the list of least corrupt nations while the USA stands in the 20th position with 7.2 points. nepalnews.com mk Sep 26 07