Ukraine ranked 130th among 180 countries in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2017.
The annual report was released on Wednesday by Transparency International, Deutsche Welle reported.
The index, which ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople, uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.
Ukraine improved its last year result by one point and got 30 points out of 100 possible. Next to Ukraine stand Gambia, Iran, Myanmar and Sierra Leone.
Meanwhile, Russia scored one point less and ranks 135th (29 points), Belarus - 68th (44 points), Poland – 36th (60 points). Thus, the CPI claims Ukraine is Europe's most corrupt country after Russia.
Ukraine was able to achieve a slight improvement due to the fact that in 2017 the Ukrainian anti-corruption authorities (Special Anti-corruption Prosecutor's Office and National Anti-corruption Bureau) forwarded to courts first corruption-related cases where the suspects were high-ranking officials.
Read also"No fines": Prosecutor General seeks to lock up Ukraine's corrupt officials for over 12 monthsAlso among the reasons that contributed to a slight improvement in Ukraine's position in the rating are gas market reform, the performance of the electronic asset declarations register, and the first year of public procurement reform and application of ProZorro system. In addition, experts noted a decrease in the level of corruption in police forces and a reduction in the number of cases where businesses are forced to give bribes.
At the same time, experts explain the country's slow progress by the lack of its leadership's political will to fight corruption and a low level of trust in Ukrainian judges and prosecutors. To improve the result, the experts believe Ukraine should launch the Anti-Corruption Court and continue judicial reform, as well as reset the work of the National Agency for Prevention of Corruption and deprive law enforcers of the right to intervene in economic activities.
Read alsoUkraine finance minister says no agreement yet with IMF on anti-corruption courtThe CPI's best performers are New Zealand (89 points), Denmark (88 points) and Finland (85 points). While the most corrupt countries in the world are Somalia (9), South Sudan (12) and Syria (14). Experts note that more than two-thirds of the 180 countries in the rating have shown indicators below 50 points.
Transparency International noted that, for a global fight against corruption, governments around the world should do more to develop civil society, support free press, protect activists and journalists, and ensure transparency and accountability in public and private institutions.
