Bangladesh faces bribery risks higher than peers in South Asia

Bangladesh is more vulnerable to bribery risks than any other country in South Asia, according to a latest international report.

In the updated index report titled Trace Bribery Risk Matrix, Bangladesh scored 72 this year standing 178th, down by two points from last year.

India and Pakistan have respectively secured the 78th and 153rd position on the index.

The TRACE Bribery Risk Matrix (TRACE Matrix) measures business bribery risk in 200 countries, territories, and autonomous and semi-autonomous regions.

Putting Bangladesh's overall risk score at 72, the latest TRACE Matrix report says the risk level of Bangladesh is 'high'.

TRACE Matrix's score is a composite of the four domain scores discussed below, which are weighted and combined to produce the overall country risk score.

Each country is given a score from 1 to 100 for each domain and for the total bribery risk. A higher score indicates a higher risk of business bribery.

Assessments of whether a given domain score is “good” or “poor” are made relative to all other jurisdictions within that domain.

1. Business Interactions with Government: Bangladesh receives a poor score of 86 in this domain, based on a high degree of government interaction, a high expectation of bribes, and a high regulatory burden.

2. Anti­bribery Deterrence and Enforcement: Bangladesh receives a poor score of 63 in this domain, based on a low quality of anti­bribery dissuasion and a low quality of anti­bribery enforcement.

3. Government and Civil Service Transparency: Bangladesh receives a medium score of 60 in this domain, based on medium governmental transparency and poor transparency of financial interests.

4. Capacity for Civil Society Oversight: Bangladesh receives a poor score of 64 in this domain, based on a low degree of media freedom/quality and a low degree of civil society engagement.

The TRACE Matrix report identifies New Zealand, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland as the top five least bribery risky countries in the world.

Whereas, while it identifies Venezuela, Yemen, North Korea, South Sudan and Somalia as the top most bribery risky countries.

Originally developed in 2014 in collaboration with RAND Corporation, the TRACE Matrix is updated annually by TRACE.