labels: economy - general
India China: seen as less corrupt news
06 December 2005

A survey by a Hong Kong-based think-tank, Political & Economic Risk Consultancy says multinationals perceive corruption in The Philippines and Thailand as getting worse but declining in India and China where the respective governments were seen to be making headway in combating the menace.

The survey covered 12 Asian economies. Managers cited corruption as being the worst in Indonesia, followed by Vietnam, then The Philippines and India.

The survey also found that corruption seemed to be intensifying in some ways in Thailand. However, even though direct bribes, concessions and favours were less of a problem, the authorities in Thailand changed laws and regulations and practices, replacing them with new arrangements that benefit certain large industries and businesses, many of which happen to have close links with influential politicians, the consultancy said.

In The Philippines the respondents said that the worrying thing was well-placed officials appeared to brush aside accusations that corruption was a problem.

The survey covered 96 executives of multinationals and banks with regional responsibilities for Asia.

Among developed economies in Asia, corruption was seen as the biggest problem in Taiwan, followed by South Korea. In both cases corruption was largely in the form of weak corporate governance, fraud and white collar crime rather than political corruption although that did exist as well.

Singapore and Hong Kong have been rated the best for keeping corruption under control

Corruption index*:
Indonesia 9.4
Vietnam 8.3
Philippines 8.1
India 7.4
China 6.3
Thailand 6.2
Taiwan 6.0
Malaysia 5.7
South Korea 4.9
Japan 2.3
Hong Kong 1.2
Singapore 0.9
* Showing the extent to which corruption detracts from the business environment. Worst = 10, best = 0.



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India China: seen as less corrupt