Georgia is Regional Anti-Corruption Leader, According to Worldwide Governance Indicators

The Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI), the World Bank’s long-standing research program, recently issued its results from 2013 in which Georgia was a stand-out performer.

The country achieved the highest possible score in every indicator of the study covering the following segments: Voice and Accountability, Political Stability and Lack of Violence, Government Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law and Control of Corruption.

Georgia’s excellent results were most notable in the Control of Corruption part where it scored 66.5, representing a 25-point increase on its average between 1996 and 2013.

According to the WGI, this specific index captures perceptions of the extent to which public power is exercised for private gain, including both petty and substantial forms of corruption, as well as “capture” of the state by elite and private interests.

In the South Caucasus region, Georgia’s rating far exceeds that of its neighbors Armenia (39.7) and Azerbaijan (18.7) while the country also scored higher than some EU countries including Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Greece.

“Control of Corruption is a very important indicator that is a necessary condition for the country’s further development. It is good that an international organization recognizes the progress being made,” said Aleksi Aleksishvili General Director at PMCG, who emphatically added, “The government should continue its activities for more progress.”

The WGI are a research dataset summarizing views on the quality of governance provided by a large number of enterprises, citizens and experts in industrial and developing countries. These data are gathered from a number of survey institutes, think tanks, non-governmental organizations, international organizations and private sector firms.