In 2019, the perception of corruption in public institutions increased in all countries of the region except Costa Rica, where it remained the same as in 2018.
As has been the case in recent years, Nicaragua's public sector continues to be perceived as the most corrupt in the region (transparency level 22 on a scale of 0 to 100), followed by Guatemala (26), Honduras (26), Dominican Republic (28), El Salvador (34), Panama (36), and Costa Rica (56).
The Dominican Republic, Panama and Honduras are the nations in the region where the majority of the population believes that corruption in government institutions has increased in the last twelve months.
The report "Barómetro Global de la Corrupción: América Latina y El Caribe 2019 - Opiniones y Experiencias de los ciudadanos en materia de corrupción" (Global Corruption Barometer: Latin America and the Caribbean 2019 - Opinions and Experiences of Citizens on Corruption), compiled by Transparency International and published on September 23, 2019, evaluated the perception of corruption in the countries of the region and some aspects of insecurity.
In 2018, the perception of corruption in public institutions increased in all countries in the region, except Panama, where it remained the same as in 2017, and El Salvador, where it slightly decreased.
As in previous years, Nicaragua's public sector continues to be considered the most corrupt in the region (level of transparency 25 on a scale of 0 to 100), followed by Guatemala (27), Honduras (29), El Salvador (35), Panama (37), and Costa Rica (56).
In 2017, the perception of corruption in public institutions increased in all of the countries in the region, with the exception of Guatemala and Nicaragua, where it remained the same as in 2016, and in Costa Rica, where it decreased slightly.
The public sector still perceives Nicaragua to be the most corrupt country (transparency level 26 on a scale from 0 to 100), followed by Guatemala (28), Honduras (29), El Salvador (33), Panama (37) and Costa Rica (59).
The real entrepreneurs and CEOs do not need a state official, who will never be an entrepreneur, to tell them how to run a company and increase revenues.
EDITORIAL
In Costa Rica, the government continues to believe that state officials can show employers how to do their job and how to generate wealth.
Having failed in its task of promoting favorable conditions in infrastructure, training and availability of human resources, access to credit and facilitating paperwork for the creation and growth of private enterprises, swift and effective commercial trade justice, the pachydermic state apparatus in Costa Rica continues to create bureaucratic organizations to "develop production" and obliterates others that yesterday were touted as the miracle food for the country's development. The new invention, this time from the Solis administration, is the Productive Development Agency, for Innovation and Added Value which of course already has a corresponding and always imaginative short name: FOMPRODUCE.
Using its corporate power and taking advantage of the power vacuum that is afflicting the State, a public university in Costa Rica is paying first world salaries, exacerbating the inequality that exists between Costa Ricans and severely distorting the labor market.
EDITORIAL
The degeneration of democracy which is happening in a lot of Latin American countries has Costa Rica as an example, a country which historically used to be a shining example of the best way to live in society.
In Central America, the public sector perceives Nicaragua as the most corrupt country (transparency level 28 on a scale of 0-100), followed by Honduras (29), Guatemala (32), Panama (37), El Salvador (39), and Costa Rica (54).
"... When leaders and senior officials abuse their power by using public funds for personal gain, economic growth is undermined ... "- Transparency International