According to Transparency International rating, published today, Kazakhstan took 145 places among 180 countries, sharing it with East Timor, Kazakhstan Today reports.
Last year Kazakhstan was at 150 places on corruption perception index, which it shared then with some CIS countries: Azerbaijan, Byelorussia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Unlike Kazakhstan, which rose in this rating from 150 places in 2007 to 145 place this year, other countries exacerbated their positions.
Namely, Azerbaijan this year takes 158 place, Byelorussia and Tajikistan -151, Kyrgyzstan shared 166 places with Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.
"Corruption perception index of Transparency International for 2008 clearly shows that in South-Eastern Europe and former Soviet republics corruption remains to be serious problem. Each of these 20 countries gained less than 5 grades (out of possible 10), what is an indication of high level of corruption perception in the majority of these countries," Transparency International informs.
"As for CIS countries, only in Georgia there is some improvement, whereas estimations in Russia (147) and Ukraine (134) continue to decrease. Estimations of the majority of Central Asian countries remain at the same low level or even are plummeting significantly, as it is seen with sample of Kyrgyzstan: number of grades, accumulated by this country, decreased from 2,1 in 2007 to 1,8 in 2008," the report runs.