SA more reliable than most

2003-07-03 23:23

Mandy Rossouw

Johannesburg - African nations are regarded as the most corrupt in the world, according to the latest global corruption perception index released by Transparency International.

South Africa is among only five African countries in the top half of the list, which runs from most reliable to most corrupt.

Botswana was designated 24th most reliable country and South Africa 36th - an improvement of two places since the previous report.

Namibia (28th), Mauritius (40th) and Ghana (50th) are the other African countries to reach the top half of the list.

Nigeria is regarded the second most corrupt country in the world, pipped at the post by Bangladesh.

Finland retains most reliable country status for two years running. The first ten countries on the list remain unchanged since the last report.

The other nine are Denmark, New Zealand, Iceland, Singapore, Sweden, Canada, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Britain.

Their scores are compiled by sources including the World Economic Forum, auditors PriceWaterhouseCoopers and other major economic and academic institutions.

In the bribe payers index, which lists 21 top exporters but no African countries, Russia takes top honours for most bribery prone, especially in economic sectors such as public works.

The report says since 1999 there has been a slight decline in the tendency of companies to offer or accept bribes.

- Beeld