Survey: Philippines, Thailand Most Corrupt Economies In Asia

March 11, 2008 7:05 a.m. EST

Manila, Philippines (AHN)-The Philippines and Thailand were ranked as the most corrupt Asian economies by a survey conducted by the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC). PERC consists of 1,400 expatriate businessmen who were surveyed in the region last January and February.

Third and fourth rankings in the corrupt economies category went to Indonesia and China, respectively.

PERC cited on the survey: "The Philippines is a sad case when it comes to corruption." It added that the situation in the country is "probably no worse than in places like Indonesia and Thailand" but corruption has become politicized and is openly discussed in the media, unlike in other countries.

The Philippines scored 9 out of a possible 10 points under a grading system used by PERC, with zero as the best score and 10 the worst. Thailand retained last year's ranking as the second most corrupt economy after the Philippines with a score of 8.

Indonesia is ranked third with a score of 7.98. Corruption is perceived to have worsened in Malaysia, which scored 6.37 in the survey, worse than last year's grade of 6.25. The country retained its number six ranking in the poll. China's score worsened to 7.98 from 6.29 last year with corruption seen to be as widespread as ever despite Beijing's efforts to clamp down on it.

Singapore and Hong Kong retained their rankings as the cleanest economies in Asia.

The annual survey covers only 13 economies in Asia and excludes other countries notorious for corruption, such as Myanmar and Bangladesh.