Jamaica still ranked low on Corruption Perception Index
Published:Tuesday | January 31, 2023 | 12:29 PM
Despite improving one place in Transparency International's 2022 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) country rankings, Jamaica remains the fourth most corrupt state in the Caribbean.
In the 2022 CPI released by Transparency International this morning, Jamaica scored 44 on the CPI with a ranking of 69 out of 180 countries.
Last year, Jamaica also scored 44 and was ranked 70 out of 180 countries.
Jamaica's score of 44 on the CPI should be assessed in a context where zero is considered highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.
Barbados leads the way in the Caribbean as the least perceived corrupt country with a CPI score of 29 and a ranking of 65 out of 180 countries.
Bahamas, St Vincent, Dominica, St Lucia, and Grenada follow in that order while Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Haiti are at the bottom.
Executive Director of Jamaica's Integrity Commission Greg Christie noted on Twitter that a CPI score of below 50 means that a country has a serious corruption problem.
He stated that Jamaica has been firmly fixed in this category for 21 years.
According to Christie, a poor CPI signals prevalent bribery, lack of punishment for corruption, and public institutions that do not respond to citizens' needs.
However, Christie pointed out that Jamaica's 2022 CPI score of 44 continues to stand as its best score ever.
It was previously attained in 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021.
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