Mozambique Drops Three Places in World Transparency Index

Mozambique worsened its performance in the Corruption Perceptions Index, a report published annually by Transparency International, dropping three places from last year. The country was ranked 145th out of 180 countries in the world analysed. If we consider only the African continent, Mozambique is ranked 36th out of 53 nations, which is still a modest result.

The Corruption Perceptions Index, published since 2001 by Transparency International, based in Germany, is the most widely used indicator to measure the level of transparency in the world. The index analyses the performance of 180 countries and the results range from zero (the highest level of corruption) to 100. It is based on surveys of local experts working in the public sector and indicators from organisations such as the World Bank, the Economist Intelligence Unit, the African Development Bank and the Bertelsmann Foundation.

The latest edition of the report, launched on 31 January, is not optimistic. Two-thirds of the countries (in which 80 per cent of the world’s population lives) scored below 50 (the world average is 43), which reveals serious corruption problems; 28 improved and 34 worsened considerably. The growth of authoritarian regimes, the decline of judicial systems and government control mechanisms are the main factors cited.

Mozambique ranks 145th in the world for transparency

The situation in sub-Saharan Africa is even more worrying, with 90 per cent of countries scoring below 50 and a regional average of 33. The Seychelles (score 71) remains the best country in the region, followed by Cape Verde (64) and Botswana (59). Equatorial Guinea (17), South Sudan (13) and Somalia (11) have the lowest scores, with no signs of improvement. The positive highlights go to the Seychelles (up 16 points since 2015), Tanzania (up 10) and Ivory Coast (up 8). Angola, too, despite starting from a very low ranking, has improved 14 points since 2018. On the downside, Liberia is the country with the worst performance (down 12 points since 2016), followed by Mali and Gabon (both down seven points in the same period).

Mozambique recorded an index score of 25, equivalent to 145th place in the world and 36th in Africa, equal on points with Liberia, Nigeria and Madagascar. The country is down three places on the previous year’s report (it was in 142nd place with a score of 26), thus reversing a trend of improvement that began in 2019, after reaching the lowest score (23) in 2018. Among Portuguese-speaking countries, it is worse than Cape Verde (30th place), Portugal (34th), São Tomé and Príncipe (67th), East Timor (70th), Brazil (104th) and Angola (121st) and only better than Guinea-Bissau (158th).

Denmark is the least corrupt in the world for the sixth time in a row

The top of the list is dominated by countries with stable democracies and strong institutions. For the sixth year running, Denmark tops the ranking with 90 points. Finland and New Zealand follow with scores of 87 and 85 respectively. Norway (84), Singapore (83), Sweden (82), Switzerland (82), the Netherlands (79), Germany (78) and Luxembourg (78) complete the top 10. Countries facing military conflicts, restricted freedoms and less solid institutions tend to score worse. This year, Somalia (11), Venezuela (13), Syria (13) and South Sudan (13) are at the bottom of the index. Yemen (16), Nicaragua (17), North Korea (17), Haiti (17), Equatorial Guinea (17), Turkmenistan (18) and Libya (18) are the next lowest performers.

TRANSPARENCY IN THE WORLD…