The 2013 Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International was released this week. The Index ranks countries on the basis of the perception of the corruption of their public sector.

This year the index ranked 177 countries using a ranking of 0 (very corrupt) to 100 (very clean). Only 2 countries scored more than 90 – Denmark and New Zealand. Australia came in 9th (dropping 2 places in the rankings from last year) scoring 80, in a group of 9 countries which included Singapore and Canada.

123 countries received a ranking of less than 50 including 64% of countries in Asia Pacific, 84% of countries in the Middle East and North Africa and 90% of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. North Korea, Afghanistan and Somalia were ranked the lowest, scoring only 8.

Many Australian corporations have business operations in countries for which the level of corruption is perceived to be between moderate and high. Those corporations need to ensure that they adequately assess the risks of doing business in those countries and have in place the necessary policies and procedures to effectively address those risks. If you need guidance on what may be required please contact one of our Business Ethics and Anti-corruption team.

If you would like to read the full publication by Transparency International click here: http://www.transparency.org/cpi2013/in_detail

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