Iraq Continues To Rank In Bottom Of International Corruption Index

(Small Business CEO)

Transparency International released its annual “Corruption Perceptions Index” and Iraq continued to be towards the bottom of the countries ranked. Iraq had a score of 20 out of 100 with 0 being the worst and 100 being the best. That put it tied for 17^th most corrupt country out of 180 that were ranked. In the Middle East only Libya with a score of 18, Yemen with 15 and Syria with 13 did worse. That was little better than the previous year when Iraq ranked 18^th. In the decade following the U.S. invasion Iraq was regularly in the bottom five. It’s not apparent that Iraq has made any improvements so other countries might have simply gotten worse since then. Transparency International noted that corruption was endemic throughout the region where there is little accountability, and there are few if any checks upon the rulers.

Middle East-North African Countries in 2019 Corruption Report

1. UAE score 71, rank 21

2. Qatar score 62, rank 30

3. Saudi Arabia score 53, rank 51

4. Oman score 52, rank 56

5. Jordan score 48, rank 60

6. Tunisia score 43, rank 74

7. Bahrain score 42, rank 77

8. Morocco score 41, rank 80

9. Kuwait score 40, rank 85

10. Algeria score 35, rank 106

11. Egypt score 35, rank 106

12. Lebanon score 28, rank 137

13. Iran score 26, rank 146

14. Iraq score 20, rank 162

15. Libya score 18, rank 168

16. Yemen score 15, rank 177

17. Syria score 13, rank 178

As former head of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen noted, corruption has been institutionalized within the Iraqi state since 2003. It is not only part of how the government operates, such as top officials grafting off contracts, it is also how the ruling parties run the country. They use state resources in their patronage networks to maintain votes and support their friends. That means there is no pressure to actually solve this problem, and Iraq will continue to do badly in these types of reports.

SOURCES

Transparency International, “Corruption Perceptions Index 2018”

- “Corruption Perceptions Index 2019,” 1/23/20