Corruption watchdog lauds UAE

The country is judged second only to Qatar in its efforts to stamp out graft in the Gulf.

The UAE remains one of the most investment-friendly countries in the region, according to an anti-corruption watchdog survey published yesterday.

NEW YORK // The UAE remains one of the most investment-friendly countries in the region, according to an anti-corruption watchdog survey published yesterday.

The annual study from Transparency International, a Berlin-based monitoring organisation, awarded the Emirates a score of 6.3 out of a possible 10. The survey aggregates perceptions of public-sector corruption among business people and experts.

The only Gulf country to be ranked higher was Qatar with a score of 7.7 - an improvement from its 7.0-score last year. Qatar enhanced its position in the region, extending its lead over other Gulf nations in efforts to clean up graft in the public sector, according to Transparency.

The UAE and its Gulf neighbours of Oman (5.3), Bahrain (4.9), Saudi Arabia (4.7) and Kuwait (4.5) showed negligible shifts against last year's figures.

Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore are world leaders with scores of 9.3, while unstable Afghanistan and Myanmar (both scoring 1.4) and Somalia (1.1) trail at the bottom of the so-called Corruption Perceptions Index of 178 nations.

"Qatar has jumped from 7.0 to 7.7, marking an improvement in the perception of Qatari efforts to tackle corruption, and this is helped by the fact that Qatar is politically stable and economically prosperous," said Tamara Kamhawi, the watchdog's Riyadh-based analyst

Members of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council have stepped up efforts to tackle public-sector corruption - from bribery of officials to procurement kickbacks and embezzlement of public funds, she said. But a lack of civil-society groups monitoring corruption across the region means that data on the full scale of the problem are scarce.

"Gulf countries have started tackling the problem of not having efficient laws, of training their work forces and raising awareness about the threat of corruption - especially when it comes to attracting investment to the Gulf," said Ms Kamhawi.

"I hope they maintain this level of raising awareness because there is still much to be done about implementing this in reality and enforcing the laws that are already in place to fight corruption and putting accountability systems in to practice."

Last month, the UN hosted the launch of the Pearl Initiative, an anti-corruption project for the Gulf, which will see volunteer business leaders from the region support an ethos of corporate responsibility, fighting graft and sharing more data about their firms.

Amir Dossal, executive director of the UN Office for Partnerships, which backs the scheme, said he hopes that support from the top levels of government and royalty will quickly begin to yield changes on the ground.

"The Gulf is a small region, where the dividing line between public and private is often quite blurred. So if you can mobilise public opinion and get leaders to look at the long-term benefits, then I am convinced that this initiative will be a real driver of change," Mr Dossal said.

The Pearl Initiative estimates that corruption costs the world's developing economies as much as US$60 billion (Dh220.3bn) each year.

Transparency International says that bribes and other forms of graft can see the cost of state construction and other projects raised by as much as 10 per cent; cartel price fixing saw consumers overcharged by about $300 billion globally between 1990 and 2005.