WB cites some progress in global corruption fight

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WASHINGTON, July 11 (AFP): A World Bank report released yesterday cited some progress in the global fight against corruption but warned that overall, problems with stability and poor governance remain entrenched in many regions.
"We do not find that indicators, on the whole, have improved significantly but there are striking examples," said Daniel Kaufmann, one of the authors of the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) 1996-2006 report.
A number of African countries showed progress, including Kenya, Nigeria and Sierra Leone in the realm of "voice and accountability;" and Algeria, Angola, Libya, Rwanda in "political stability and absence of violence;" and Tanzania in fighting corruption.
However, the United States stood out for declining in five of six areas over the 10-year span, including control of corruption and government effectiveness, and showing its sharpest decline-a 20 point slide-in political stability.
Other countries, such as Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast, Belarus and Venezuela saw their ratings slide in all six areas, which the World Bank used to compare 212 countries, based on data from around 30 different organisations.
Finland led the pack when it came to the fight against corruption, beating out Iceland and Denmark, while Burma, North Korea and Somalia came in last.
However, World Bank officials cautioned against making a general judgment as to which countries improved or declined the most on the whole, and stressed that the ratings are not used to decide which countries receive financial aid from the global lending group.
"We don't want the futility of a horse race," said Kaufmann, who carried out the study along with researchers Aart Kraay and Massimo Mastruzzi