AFP
Singapore, Mar 14: The Philippines is perceived as Asia's most corrupt, while India as the fifth most corrupt economy by foreign businessmen, according to a survey that also found countries were failing to properly tackle corruption.
Singapore (1.20) and Hong Kong (1.87) were seen as the cleanest economies, among the 13 Asian economies, while China, Indonesia and Vietnam posted improvements, the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) said today in a summary made available to AFP.
In a grading system with zero as the best possible score and 10 the worst. The Philippines got 9.40, worsening sharply from its grade of 7.8 last year.
India, though improved its score from 6.76 last year to 6.67 this year, was fifth in the ranking among 13 Asian economies.
PERC said the Indian government must accelerate reforms, warning that corruption can limit companies' expansion plans.