Corruption in Top Offshore Locations

Corruption is a global scourge that impacts developed and developing nations. It acts both as a direct financial tax and as an indirect impediment to a range of business activities. While the United States and Western Europe are not immune, corruption often has a bigger impact on operations located in offshore locations. The leading comparative measure of corruption is Transparency International's Global Corruption Index. The index measures perceptions on corruption across 180 countries. Figure 1 below displays the scores for twenty five leading offshore locations.

Corruption Perceptions Index - Figure 1

Source: Transparency International

At the top of the list is Canada with a score of 8.7. This exceeds that of the the United States and most Western European nations. Chile and Israel are the next two standouts with scores better that 80% of all countries surveyed. Regionally there is great variation. In Asia, Malaysia does reasonably well, but the power houses of China and India are in the middle to lower end of the specrum. Pakistan, Indonesia and Vietnam are all in the lower third. Central and Eastern European countries also cover the spectrum. The Czech Republic and Hungary get good scores, above that of Italy, but as you move east, scores drop. Ukraine and Russia are both at the lower end. Latin America, continues the trend with Chile at the top and Mexico and Brazil in the middle and Argentina toward the bottom.