Singapore improves its score in Transparency International's corruption index

Singapore improves its score in Transparency International's corruption index

SINGAPORE - Singapore's score in a ranking of countries seen as being the least corrupt in the world has improved.

The Republic was given a score of 85 in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index for 2015, an increase from its score of 84 in 2014.

However, Singapore's ranking fell to eighth from seventh in 2014. Ahead of it in the ranking is (in descending order) Denmark, Finland, Sweden, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland.

Norway and the Netherlands, whose score rose from 83 to 87 in 2015, were tied in fifth place.

Prior to 2014, Singapore had finished in the No. 5 spot for three years.

The index measures the perceived levels of public sector corruption worldwide as seen by country experts and business people. Countries are scored on a scale of zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).

Twelve data sources from corruption-related polls and surveys were used to construct the index. Eight of these sources were used to compute Singapore's score, the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) said in a statement on Wednesday (Jan 27).

Singapore attained top scores in four of those sources.

"Singapore continues to be one of the least corrupt countries in the world and the Republic's public sector remains as one of the cleanest," the CPIB said.

It added that the number of corruption complaints and cases registered for investigations by CPIB were at 30-year lows.


This article was first published on Jan 27, 2016.
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