Qatar continues to be perceived as having one of the least corrupt public sectors in the Middle East, but has still dropped in the overall rankings, according to a newly released index by Transparency International.

The country shared the honor of being perceived as the least corrupt Arab nation with the UAE, as both nations ranked 27th in the 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index. 

Overall, Qatar fell five spots from its ranking as 22nd last year, no longer above the US or France. The UAE is the only GCC country to move up in the ranks this year, by one spot.

Bahrain fell from 46th to 53rd; Oman from 50th to 61st and both Saudi Arabia (57th) and Kuwait (54th) to 66th.

What happened

To arrive at its conclusions, the Berlin-based Transparency International surveys governance and business analysts to rank 176 countries on the likelihood of bribery and the accountability of public officials.

The company doesn’t go into details about why each country rose or fell in the rankings, but did say this in a statement:

“A growing outcry over corrupt governments forced several leaders from office last year, but as the dust has cleared it has become apparent that the levels of bribery, abuse of power and secret dealings are still very high in many countries.”

According to CPI Financial:

Despite revolutions during the Arab Spring which overthrew governments perceived as corrupt, not all of the newly democratic Arab nations have witnessed improvement.

Libya rose eight places to 160th, while Yemen gained eight places to 156th. However, Egypt fell six places to 118th and Tunisia fell two places to 75th.

New Zealand and Denmark once again took the top spot for best perception of its public sector, joined by Finland, while Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia tied for last place.

Read the full report here:

Thoughts?

Credit: Graphic courtesy of Transparency International