Monday, 30 January 2017

Ukraine improves its corruption ranking

Transparency International has released its annual Corruption Perceptions Index in which Ukraine scored 29 out of a possible 100 points, which is good news and not so good news.

The good news is that it is an improvement of two points compared to last year which shows the anti-corruption reforms that Ukraine has implemented is having some impact.

Transparency International noted positive changes in reduced abuse in government office, the police, and the armed forces and greater accountability of public procurement.

The not so good news in that Ukraine is ranked 131 out of 176 countries in the world corruption rankings with Transparency International saying the justice system remained at the same level of corruption as in the Yanukovych era.

They cited the absence of asset recovery from the Yanukovych regime and his allies as vivid evidence for that.

The problem is that Ukraine needs to improve its corruption rating to allow inward investment.

At the moment the massive amount of finance that Ukraine desperately needs is locked just out of reach by cooperate governance and due diligence.

An institutional investor carries out his due diligence and the risk from corruption is deemed as too great which stops the investment happening.

Improving Ukraine’s corruption perception rating is crucial in allowing inward foreign investment at the levels that the country needs and when it does we should start to see some big things happen particularly in the agri sector.