53% of Moroccans believe corruption has increased, finds Transparency report

The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), which ranks countries worldwide on a scale from 0 (very corrupt) to 100 (very clean), reveals that more than two-thirds of the countries surveyed last year scored below 50.

In its 2023 edition, published this Tuesday, the CPI indicates the existence of serious corruption problems, with the global average being 43. The vast majority of countries have made no progress, or have gone backwards, over the past decade.

Only 28 of the 180 countries have improved their level of corruption over the past 12 years.

In 34 countries, the scourge has worsened considerably. A further 23 reached their lowest scores this year, according to the NGO.
This finding can be explained by a “global trend towards the weakening of judicial systems” since 2016, which “reduces the accountability of public officials”, thus encouraging the development of corrupt practices through impunity.

“Acts of corruption such as bribery and abuse of power also infiltrate many courts and other judicial institutions around the world”, the same source points out.

Among the countries surveyed, Morocco ranks 97th worldwide, with a score of 38 out of 100, the same as in 2022. In the Middle East and North Africa region, the Kingdom is outranked by the United Arab Emirates (26th), Qatar (40th), Jordan (63rd) and Tunisia (87th).

However, it did better than Algeria (104), Egypt (108) and Mauritania (130). Analyzing the national situation, Transparency points out that 53% of Moroccan citizens believe that corruption has increased in the space of a year. 31% said they had used corrupt practices to gain access to public services.

The top-ranked countries also face the problem of unpunished corruption. In the overall ranking, Denmark comes top, followed by Finland and New Zealand, then Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Germany.

South Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Somalia close the list. Deconstructing a certain idealized perception of the top-ranked countries, Transparency International notes, however, that even these states “have their own impunity problems”, although this is not reflected in their scores.

“Many cases of cross-border corruption involve companies from top-performing countries resorting to bribery when doing business abroad (…) Top-ranked countries often fail to go after the perpetrators of foreign bribery and their accomplices”, explains the NGO.

In this sense, “the rise of authoritarianism in some countries contributes to this trend, and even in democratic contexts, the mechanisms that keep governments in check have weakened”, it adds.

François Valérian, Chairman of Transparency International, believes that “corruption will continue to flourish until judicial systems are able to punish wrongdoing and control governments”.

“When justice is bought or politically obstructed, it is the people who suffer. Leaders must fully guarantee the independence of institutions that uphold the law and fight corruption”, he added, arguing that “it’s time to end impunity for corruption”.

For the NGO, “justice and an effective rule of law are essential to prevent and put an end to corruption at national and international level”. These two components are “the cornerstones of democracy and embody the notions of fairness and accountability”, Transparency stresses.