Who was more corrupt? Imran govt or Shehbaz-led PDM regime

ISLAMABAD: Transparency International (TI) will release today (Tuesday) morning its global annual report on corruption, which will determine whether the menace has increased or decreased in Pakistan after the departure of Imran Khan government and during Shehbaz Sharif-led PDM regime.

The TI, based in Berlin, will issue its global Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2023 report on Tuesday at 11:00 am. The TI’s annual CPI report is based on the surveys and reports of different international bodies like World Economic Forum, World Bank, World Justice Project, Economic Intelligence Unit etc.

The TI CPI report 2023 is expected to cover the surveys and reports gathered during the Shehbaz Sharif-led PDM government. As per the analysis of the TI’s previous reports, the corruption in Pakistan has been on the rise after 2018 and during Imran Khan’s government.

The TI’s 2022 CPI report on global corruption had also found Pakistan under Shehbaz-Imran’s shared rule as more corrupt than before. Pakistan in TI 2022 report was declared among those 10 countries which had significantly declined on their CPI score.

The TI report was a charge sheet against both the PTI and PDM govenments as the Pakistan’s CPI score had dropped to the lowest since 2012. Surveys of different international bodies, which had provided data to the TI for its 2022 report, showed that the data evaluated in case of Pakistan had covered both the governments of the PDM and the PTI. Asia’s Pacific report, which was part of the CPI 2022, however, had talked about Imran Khan’s government. It had said: “Pakistan too has continued its statistically significant downward trend, this year hitting its lowest score since 2012 at just 27 points amidst ongoing political turmoil. Prime minister Imran Khan came to power promising to tackle rampant corruption and promote social and economic reforms, but little has been accomplished on any of these fronts since he took the reins in 2018.”

Pakistan’s performance in the TI corruption perception index was best in 2018 when Pakistan was ranked 64th from the bottom whereas it stood at 117th position out of a total 180 countries assessed. In the 2018 report of the TI, Pakistan’s CPI score was 33.

In 2019, corruption in Pakistan increased as its TI’s CPI score reduced to 32 from previous 33 whereas it ranked 61th from the bottom and stood 120th out of 180 countries assessed. In 2020, corruption in Pakistan again increased as its TI’s CPI score reduced to 31 from previous 30 whereas it ranked 57th from the bottom and stood 124th out of 180 countries assessed. In 2021, corruption in Pakistan further increased as its TI’s CPI score reduced to 28 from the previous 31 whereas it ranked 41st from the bottom and stood 140th out of 180 countries assessed. In 2022, corruption in Pakistan increased more as its TI’s CPI score reduced to 27 from the previous 28 whereas it ranked 27th from the bottom and stood 140th out of 180 countries assessed.