Bangladesh notches ahead, but volume of corruption remains same

Bangladesh has notched one step ahead in ‘Corruption Perceptions Index 2019’,but the volume of corruption remained same, says Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) on Wednesday at its office in Dhaka.

According to the TI index, Bangladesh was ranked 146th jointly with six others including Honduras, Nigeria and Iran out 180 countries in the world.

Bangladesh scored 26 out of 100, which was exactly the same in the previous year.

TIB executive director Iftekharuzzaman said, “Though we have advanced one step, but the score remains the same as that of the last year. The value of the score is very important. It may be some countries did worse that is why we have upped one position. There's no scope to be complacent.”

An expectation was created during the last year’s anti-corruption drive. But there is also a fear about the implementation of actions.

Bangladesh, he added, has legal and institutional capacity to fight corruption. The inability to implement the procedural actions is drawing Bangladesh downwards. Bangladesh has made enormous strides in economic development, but the corruption is eating up the yields, he said.

TIB board of trustees chairperson Sultana Kamal said Bangladesh has done well in economic development. It could do better if corruption is eliminated.