Ukraine has lost two points to reach its 2017 score of 30 points, finds Corruption Perceptions Index 2019. Detailed information is available on Transparency International Ukraine’s website.

Ukraine went back to its 2017 level and now ranks 126th out of 180 countries covered by the research. Other countries with the same score are Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan and Djibouti. 

Among its neighbors, Ukraine is ahead of Russia, which maintains its position (28 points, rank 137). Out of the remaining neighbors, Poland is the expected leader with 58 points (rank 41), followed by Slovakia (50 points, rank 59). Belarus gained 1 point and now ranks 66th with 45 points. Some of our neighbors have lost points this year: Romania lost 3 points, Hungary — 2 points, and Moldova — 1 point. 

“The CPI is based on sources from the past two years. Since the beginning of 2017, reforms and anti-corruption struggle in Ukraine started somewhat rolling back. The authorities made increasingly active attempts to restrict the independence of anti-corruption agencies, stalled the launch of the High Anti-Corruption Court, came up with arbitrary legislative restrictions. Not to mention the political bias of the NACP and the failed judicial reform. During the past two years, the government ignored most recommendations, some of which were critically important for the country,” said TI Ukraine’s Executive Director Andrii Borovyk. 

At the beginning of 2019, Transparency International Ukraine provided 12 recommendations, which could have improved Ukraine’s CPI score. As of the end of the year, only 6 of them were fully or partially implemented, and even that happened at the end of 2019.

The authorities failed to strengthen the oversight of political party funding, to change the way of formation of judicial governance agencies and to punish those guilty of organizing attacks against activists.

To change the situation, the authorities need to implement numerous initiatives. Among other things, they have to:

  • Form an independent and professional judiciary;
  • Ensure the independence and capacity of anti-corruption agencies;
  • Deprive the Security Service of Ukraine of its powers in the sphere of fighting economic and corruption-related crimes;
  • Improve the effectiveness of political corruption prevention systems;
  • Implement an open accountable process of public property privatization. 

It should be noted that CPI leaders mostly remain the same. The first place is shared by New Zealand and Denmark with 87 points each. Notably, 8 out of 10 countries in the top 10 are in Western or Northern Europe. 

The list is concluded by Somalia (9 points), South Sudan (12) and Syria (13).

 

For reference

Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is an index compiled annually since 1995 by the global organization Transparency International. The organization itself does not conduct any surveys, instead relying upon 13 surveys and assessments of reputable international organizations and think tanks. Ukraine’s score is based on 9 sources.

The key figures of the Index are the scores, not the ranks. The minimum score (0 points) means that corruption effectively replaces the government, while the maximum score (100 points) means that there is almost no perceived corruption. The Index only assesses corruption in the public sector.

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“The CPI is based on sources from the past two years. Since the beginning of 2017, reforms and anti-corruption struggle in Ukraine started somewhat rolling back."

TI Ukraine’s Executive Director Andrii Borovyk.