CAIRO: Egypt's perception of public sector corruption has improved in a global ranking compared to last year, though it has slightly declined on the Arab level, according to a recent report. Released on Tuesday, the Transparency International (TI) 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) ranked Egypt 98th out of 178 countries. Last year, Egypt was ranked the 111th among 180 countries. The Index measures the perceived level of public sector corruption. It's described on its official website as a “survey of surveys, based on 13 different expert and business surveys.” While Egypt was ranked on the CPI the 10th among Arab countries in 2009, this year it came in the 11th place after Qatar, the UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Tunisia, Morocco and Djibouti. “In my opinion, Egypt should be compared to countries … with similar economic and political circumstances,” said senior researcher at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies Amr El-Chobaki. “[For example], surpassing Somalia in ranking does not necessarily mean an achievement has been made [on the level of fighting corruption],” El-Chobaki told Daily News Egypt. Somalia ranked 178th on the index. In the 2010 report, Egypt was followed in ranking by Algeria, Syria, Lebanon, Mauritania, Libya, Yemen, Sudan, Iraq and Somalia. According to the report, with governments committing huge sums to tackle the world's most pressing problems, from the instability of financial markets to climate change and poverty, corruption remains an obstacle to achieving much needed progress. To address these challenges, governments need to integrate anti-corruption measures in all spheres, from their responses to the financial crisis and climate change to commitments by the international community to eradicate poverty, the report suggested. The CPI is an aggregate indicator that combines different sources of information about corruption, making it possible to compare countries. The 2010 results were drawn from 13 surveys and assessments published between January 2009 and September 2010. Earlier this month, public prosecutor Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud presented before an Arab League conference a working paper on establishing a national anti-corruption committee. Mahmoud suggested that the committee will work on carrying out the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, conducting studies and awareness raising campaigns and cooperating with non-governmental organizations to fight corruption. The committee will then issue an annul progress report.
