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Latin America: Corruption Grows
Latin American CEO pessimism grows.
BY LATINVEX STAFF
Corruption in Brazil and Mexico worsened, but improved in Argentina, according to the latest Corruption Perceptions Index from Germany-based watchdog Transparency International.
Overall, Latin America saw another deterioration, according to a Latinvex analysis of the Transparency International score for 19 Latin American countries.
Costa Rica suffered the worst deterioration, with its score dropping 3 percentage points to 56, but the Central American nation remains among the three most transparent countries in Latin America.
“At the bottom of the index, Venezuela remains stuck ..., reflecting systemic and persistent corruption across the country,” Transparency says.
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Latin America Corruption: Best & Worst |
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Ranked by transparency rank |
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LA Rk |
Gl Rk |
Country |
Score |
Ch |
|||
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1 |
23 |
Uruguay |
70 |
||||
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2 |
27 |
Chile |
67 |
||||
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3 |
48 |
Costa Rica |
56 |
-3 |
|||
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4 |
61 |
Cuba |
47 |
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5 |
85 |
Argentina |
40 |
1 |
|||
|
6 |
93 |
Panama |
37 |
||||
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7 |
99 |
Colombia |
36 |
-1 |
|||
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8 |
105 |
Brazil |
35 |
-2 |
|||
|
8 |
105 |
El Salvador |
35 |
2 |
|||
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8 |
105 |
Peru |
35 |
2 |
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11 |
114 |
Ecuador |
34 |
2 |
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12 |
129 |
Dom. Rep. |
30 |
1 |
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13 |
132 |
Bolivia |
29 |
-4 |
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13 |
132 |
Honduras |
29 |
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13 |
132 |
Paraguay |
29 |
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16 |
138 |
Mexico |
28 |
-1 |
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17 |
144 |
Guatemala |
27 |
-1 |
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18 |
152 |
Nicaragua |
25 |
-1 |
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19 |
168 |
Venezuela |
18 |
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Average |
37.2 |
-0.5 |
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LA Rk=Latin America rank |
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Gl Rk=Global rank |
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Ch: Change in score from 2016 index |
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Sources: Corruption Perceptions Index 2018, Transparency International; Latinvex (change) | |||||||
CEO PESSIMISM GROWS
Optimism among Latin American CEOs has declined, in line with global sentiment among their peers, according to the latest annual CEO survey from PwC released at World Economic Forum in Davos.
The survey shows that 23 percent of CEOs believe global growth will decline, up from only 5 percent a year earlier. Globally, 29 percent of CEOs concur, also up from 5 percent last year.
“All over the world, we have seen populist politicians exercise increasing influence over economic policy,” the PwC report says. “There is a perceptible shift away from reliance on global governance structures designed to facilitate cooperation on pressing issues such as trade, climate change, and nuclear proliferation. The result has been one recognized by the World Economic Forum: a trend toward nation-state unilateralism and, consequently, greater global fragmentation and uncertainty.”
Populism is considered the top threat in Latin America, followed by over-regulation and policy uncertainty. Among top ten threats this year that weren’t even included last year are policy uncertainty, trade conflicts and protectionism.
To see what multinational CEOs say about the outlook in Latin America, see the Latinvex special report.
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