& Human Rights

With several DAC donors now focusing on the issue of corruption, and the OECD Convention against Bribery coming in to force, the issue of transparency and the work of Transparency International is receiving a significant amount of attention. When the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) was published in 1995, some people argued that it focused too much on bribe recipients (often in the South) and not enough on bribe payers in leading exporting countries (often in the North). In 1999, therefore, Transparency International commissioned Gallop to do a survey in 14 countries in the South in order to assess the readiness of exporters to pay bribes.

Transparency International (TI) have now produced the 1999 Bribe Payers Index. (BPI) On a scale from 0 to 10, 10 signifies the least readiness to pay bribes and 0 the most ready. Of the 19 exporting countries, none achieved a score of between 9 and 10, whilst Sweden, Australia, Canada, Austria Switzerland, Netherlands and Britain were all awarded between 7.2 and 8.3 points, with Sweden being the least inclined to pay bribes. Belgium, Germany and USA all scored between 6.2 and 6.8, whilst Spain, France, Japan and Italy scored between 3.7 and 5.2 in the Bribe Payers Index, indicating that corruption issues need to be addressed both in the OECD as well as recipient countries. Both the CPI and the BPI are available on the TI Web: www.transparency.org  Email: ti@transparencyintl.demon.co.uk   Fax: + 44 (0)171 610 1550.

Since late 1994, the Role of Government in Adjusting Economies has been the focus of a DFID funded research programme in 12 countries mainly within Sub Saharan Africa and South Asia. The research focused on 4 sectors: drinking water and sewerage, health care, crop purchasing and government support for industrial development in textile and garment manufacturing. Research paper 41 by Richard Batley and George Larbi summarises the key findings and conclusions of the research, which has involved the the International Development Dept, Univ of Birmingham, Overseas Development Group at East Anglia, the Health Policy Unit at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, WEDC Loughborough and the Dept of City and Regional Planning, University of Wales. The working paper lists titles of all other papers produced under the programme - these are listed at http://www.bham.ac.uk/IDD/rogpage.htm To order papers (£5.00 each, free outside the OECD) fax + 44 (0) 121 414 4989.