By Transparency International
Brazil
Corruption remains one of the biggest impediments to economic and social development in Brazil. With a score of 35, Brazil remains stagnated, with its lowest CPI score since 2012. After the 2018 national elections, which were strongly influenced by an anti-corruption agenda, Brazil experienced a series of setbacks to its legal and institutional anticorruption frameworks. The country also faced difficulties in advancing wide-ranging reforms to its political system. Setbacks included a Supreme Court injunction that virtually paralysed Brazil’s anti-money aundering system25 and an illegal inquiry that secretly targeted law enforcement agents. Ongoing challenges include growing political interference with anti-corruption institutions by President Bolsonaro, and congressional approval of legislation that threatens the independence of law enforcement agents and the accountability of political parties.
We just released our latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) and the results for most countries are disappointing.
Not only are more than two-thirds of countries – along with many of the world’s most advanced economies – stagnating, some are seriously backsliding.
There are worrying signs of both amongst G7 countries. The United States, for example, has received its lowest score in eight years. Canada has dropped out of the top 10, while France and the UK both score lower than last year.
Elsewhere, Nicaragua, Malta, Turkey and Liberia are all moving sharply down the index. In the last eight years, only 22 countries have shown significant improvement on the CPI, while almost as many have declined. More than 130 countries have made little to no progress in tackling corruption.
With the release of the index, we additionally looked into the link between corruption and money in politics, including the impact of campaign finance regulations and how money influences decisionmaking.
