Global Corruption Barometer 2009: Israel number 33 in the international corruption league

This is a drop of three places for Israel since the last ranking. Qatar, Portugal and Cyprus were ranked as less corrupt than Israel
 
Transparency International released last week its 2009 Global Corruption Barometer report. Global Corruption Barometer is compiled based on face-to-face interviews with over 73,000 respondents in 69 countries to identify their perception of corruption in their respective countries.
 
Some of the corruption issues addressed by the survey are: perception of corruption in the private sector, petty bribery in general and in different services, perception of most corruption institutions /sectors, corruption denunciation and use of complaint mechanisms, and perception of governments' effectiveness in the fight against corruption.
 
The 2009 Barometer report puts Israel in 33rd place among the 180 countries examined - the lower the rank, the less corruption. This is a drop of three places for Israel since the last ranking. Israel came out slightly better than Malta and the United Arab Emirates, but Qatar, Portugal and Cyprus were ranked as less corrupt than Israel.
 
In a press release Transparency International said that the private sector uses bribes to influence public policy, laws and regulations, believe over half of those polled for 2009 Global Corruption Barometer.
 
The Barometer, a global public opinion survey released today by Transparency International (TI), also found that half of respondents expressed a willingness to pay a premium to buy from corruption-free companies. “These results show a public sobered by a financial crisis precipitated by weak regulations and a lack of corporate accountability,” said Transparency International Chair, Huguette Labelle. “But we also see that the public is willing to actively support clean business. What is needed now is bold action by companies to continue strengthening their policies and practices, and to report more transparently on finances and interactions with government.”
 
Transparency International also said that the report "reveals a growing distrust of business, the daily struggle of the world's poor with petty bribery and public unconvinced of governments' anti-corruption efforts ... This year the report reflects the views of more than 73,000 people from 69 countries and territories around the world”.