According to the detailed Index released on Tuesday in Berlin, Singapore stands at 9.2. Somalia was ranked at the bottom at 1.0, (the most corrupt in the world because dozens of aid workers, journalists and boat crew members have been kidnapped for ransom in the past year), slightly trailing Iraq and Myanmar at 1.3 and Haiti at 1.4.

Of the 180 countries surveyed, eight West African countries placed in the bottom 20: Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, and finally, Guinea placing sixth from last. Cape Verde, the only West African country to have graduated to the UN status of middle-income country, ranked 47.

Botswana is the highest country in Africa in the CPI 2008 with a score of 5.8 out of 10. It is the 36th on the global table. “In the poorest countries, corruption levels can mean the difference between life and death, when money for hospitals or clean water is in play,” said Huguette Labelle, Chair of TI in a public statement at the release of the 2008 report.

“The continuing high levels of corruption and poverty plaguing many of the world’s societies amount to an ongoing humanitarian disaster and cannot be tolerated.”

Nigeria moved up 27 places on the global Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2008, ranking 121 out of 180 countries surveyed by TI, the global anti-corruption watchdog. The country is now placed the 59th most corrupt out of 180 countries. It obtained a score of 2.7 out of a possible 10.

Others

Six African nations namely Democratic Republic of Congo (171), Equatorial Guinea (171), Chad (173), Sudan (173), Guinea (173) and Somalia (180) were ranked in the bottom 10 countries on the list.

In East Africa, Uganda falls behind Rwanda and Tanzania, which are at position 102. However, it is ahead of Kenya – which improved slightly from position 150 to 147. Uganda slipped from position 111 to 126 among 180 countries. Uganda is at par with Ethiopia, Eritrea and Mozambique at a score of 2.6 on the scale of 10.

South Africa, on the other hand, dropped under the score of 5 and slipped from position 43 to position 54. The Berlin-based watchdog said unchecked levels of corruption would add $50b, or nearly half of annual global aid, to the cost of achieving the UN’s Millennium Development Goals.

It called for a more focused and coordinated donor approach aimed at strengthening institutions of governance and oversight in recipient countries. It also singled out the performance of wealthy exporting countries, which saw their scores decline, saying continued evidence of foreign bribery scandals suggested a broader failure by the developed nations.