Bosnia and Herzegovina enters period of dangerous uncertainty

Bosnia and Herzegovina again most corrupt country in the region

Bosnia and Herzegovina has slipped further in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) scale. It was revealed at the CPI presentation held in Sarajevo on 17 November, that Bosnia and Herzegovina had ranked a score of 3.0 - a score shared by countries between 99th to 105th position - in an index that covers 180 countries.

This year’s CPI, the most representative global corruption research undertaken by Transparency International, included Bosnia and Herzegovina for the seventh time. According to the CPI, Bosnia and Herzegovina is the most corrupt country in the region. This unwanted accolade bestowed on the country for the second consecutive year and this year it reached the worst ranking since its inclusion in the index. As a reminder, in 2008 Bosnia and Herzegovina occupied 92nd position, scoring 3.2.

The Index ranks countries from those with the lowest level of corruption to those where the corruption is most prevalent (ranging from 10 – no corruption, to 1 – absolute corruption).

Bosnia and Herzegovina shares the 99th to 105th place with Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Madagascar, Senegal, Tonga and Zambia. It is ranked lower than all of the former Yugoslavian republics, from which Slovenia with 27th place emerges in the highest position. Croatia ranked 66th with 4.1 index, then Montenegro, ranked 69 with 3.9 index, followed by Macedonia ranked 71st with 3.8 index, and Serbia ranked 83rd with 3.5 index.
Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to the Index, is not only the most corrupt country in the region, but is also again on the very bottom of the list compared with other European countries. The only three European countries to rank lower than Bosnia and Herzegovina were Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Apart from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the trend of progress is noticeable for almost all other Eastern-European countries. This was also confirmed by the latest European Commission Progress Report, which also stated that that Bosnia and Herzegovina had not achieved significant progress in fighting corruption.

At the CPI presentation in Sarajevo, Emir Djikic, President of the Board of Directors of Transparency International BiH, stated, “Bosnia and Herzegovina has entered a period of dangerous uncertainty, and corruption has become a dominant problem that endangers implementation of overall reforms in the country. It is essential to implement necessary anti-corruption laws as soon as possible, and to begin their implementation in order for Bosnia and Herzegovina to be able to compete with other countries in the region, or at least in this area. It is also necessary to ensure law implementation and processing of corruption -considering that the situation, particularly in this segment - is absolutely unsatisfactory”, concluded Mr Djikic