Corruption Perceptions Index 2019: Honduras Struggles in Anti-Corruption Efforts
- From 2018 to 2019, Honduras’s Corruption Perceptions Index score decreased from 29 points to 26 points, and the country ranked as more corrupt, its global ranking having slipped from 132 to 146.
- Results show Hondurans’ deteriorating confidence in political leadership and institutions.
Countries where private interests unduly influence elections and campaign financing are less likely to reduce corruption, according to Transparency International’s (TI) Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2019.
The CPI scores 180 countries and territories on their perceived levels of public sector corruption, based on 13 expert assessments and business surveys, using a scale from 0 (high corruption) to 100 (no corruption).
The results place Honduras in position 146, with a score of 26, which demonstrates a decline from 2018 when Honduras was ranked 132 with a score of 29.
At the Central American level, Honduras remains the country with the second-highest perception of corruption, behind Nicaragua (161), while Costa Rica (44) is perceived as the most transparent.
In Latin America, the most transparent countries are Uruguay (21), Chile (26), and the Bahamas (29), while the countries with the lowest rankings are Venezuela (173), Haiti (168), and Nicaragua (161).
Political Integrity and Corruption
TI’s analysis shows that countries who perform well in the CPI also tend to comply with campaign finance regulations and have broad consultation in political decision-making.
Countries where more comprehensive campaign finance regulations exist and are consistently enforced have an average CPI score of 70, while countries where regulations do not exist or are poorly enforced have an average of 34 and 35, respectively.
“Governments must urgently address the corrupting role of big money in political party financing and the undue influence it exerts on our political systems,” says Delia Ferreira Rubio, president of Transparency International.
It should be noted that 60% of the countries that significantly improved their CPI scores since 2012 have also strengthened their regulations on political campaign donations.
Countries with broad and transparent consultation processes have an average of 61 points in the CPI. In contrast, when there is little or no consultation, the average score is only 32.
On the other hand, a large majority of countries that significantly worsened their CPI scores since 2012 do not encourage the participation of the most relevant political, social, and business actors in decision-making processes.
In the case of Honduras, the results show a deterioration in citizens’ confidence in political leadership and institutions, given the lack of commitment to combat and punish corruption, the authoritarian use of public resources and the lack of transparency.
“We hope that all persons aspiring to elected office will be law-abiding persons who do not represent the interests of criminal and corrupt groups. Today, we cannot ignore the fact that the reality we have today is different and that is why it is important to involve citizens in order to demand transparency. Honduras demands and requires the courage, effort and commitment of all of us who love it in order to reverse this situation,” said Carlos Hernández, executive director of the Asociación para una Sociedad más Justa (ASJ), the Honduran chapter of TI.
Find more information about the global Corruption Perceptions Index 2019 study by Transparency International or Honduras’ 2019 CPI in Spanish.
