Washington briefing: Corruption perception report issued

by Emil Sanamyan

Published: Friday November 20, 2009

Washington - Armenia was ranked 120th of 180 countries and on par with Bolivia, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Vietnam in terms of perception of its government corruption, according to the Transparency International annual rating released on November 19.

The score and ranking based on opinion surveys by Armenia's Center for Regional Development were worse than what Armenia got last year, when it was 109th with 2.9 points instead of 2.7 this year.

In the neighborhood, war had virtually no impact on Georgia's ranking, leaving it at the 66th spot with 4.1 points and just behind Turkey, which placed 61st with 4.4 points. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan is said to have improved from the 158th to the 143rd position; Russia was ranked 146th, and Iran 168th.

The report is taken into account toward the determination of countries' eligibility for U.S. aid under the Millennium Challenge program.