The Dominican Republic is among the second in line countries with higher levels of corruption according to the corruption perception index of Transparency International.
The index report that was announced on Thursday by Participación Ciudadana highlights The Dominican nation remained in 2020 with the same score on the previous year’s perception of corruption, with 28 points over 100 when, occupying 137 out of 180 countries participants.
The general coordinator of citizen participation, Sonia Díaz, commented that the country failed to reach the 51 points set for the 2020 target.
Díaz added that the index points out that most countries have made little or no progress in the fight against corruption and many of them have scored below 50% on two consecutive occasions.
Transparency international ranking
The highest scores on the corruption index correspond to Denmark and New Zealand with 88 basis points each, followed by Finland, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland with 85 basis points each, Díaz reported during a press conference.
In the Americas the best indices are for Canada with 77 points, Uruguay with 71 and Chile and the United States with 67 each.
The weakest countries on the continent They are Venezuela with 15, Haiti with 18, Nicaragua with 22, Honduras with 24, Guatemala with 25 and Paraguay and the Dominican Republic with 28.
Díaz said that in the case of the Dominican Republic, the highest score obtained by the country since the beginning of the measurement was 25 points in 2012, while the lowest was 28 in three years: 2009, 2019 and 2020.
The report recommends that in order to combat COVID-19, it is essential that countries strengthen surveillance so that resources reach those who need it most.
“The report suggests that anti-corruption bodies and the supervisory commission must have sufficient funds and independence to carry out their mission and that open and transparent processes must be guaranteed to combat irregularities and guarantee fair prices,” the head of Participación Ciudadana warned.
COVID and corruption
Díaz stressed that the results of the Corruption Perceptions Index place a special emphasis on corruption related to the health crisis produced by COVID-19.
He said that even in the countries with the highest scores there were complaints such as the lack of transparency of public spending to deal with coronavirus, which is a health crisis, but there was also a crisis of corruption.
The report states that in the last year, pandemic corruption has spread around the world.