Pakistan loses four points on graft perception ranking.

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan has been ranked 124 out of 180 countries in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2020 released on Thursday by the Transparency InternaAtional, as the country's score has lowered to 31 from 32 out of 100 from the last year.

Pakistan's ranking in 2019 was 120 among 180 countries and its rise to 124 indicates that the perception of corruption in the public sector has slightly worsened.

The country has also scored less than last year in two categories, Rule of Law Index and Varieties of Democracy, due to which Pakistan's score in CPI 2020 has been reduced by one.

The questions asked by World Justice Project in connection with Rule of Law Index and Varieties of Democracy are about corruption of government officials viz. legislature, executive, judiciary, police and military, explained chairman of Pakistan chapter of Transparency International, Sohail Muzaffar.

He emphasised that PakAistan had to improve its performance in these sectors.

PM says Transparency International used data of 2017, 2018 for report

Mr Muzaffar said that downing of ranking and score was despite the extraAordinary efforts of the NatioAnal Accountability Bureau (NAB), which claimed to have recovered Rs363 billion in the last two years, and the Public Accounts Committee, which claimed to have recovered Rs300bn in the last two years.

PM reviews report

The Transparency International report was discussed at a meeting of Prime Minister Imran Khan with the spokesmen of his government and party.

Sources said that the prime minister welcomed the report and observed that the Transparency International had used the data of years 2017 and 2018 for preparing the report about Pakistan.

Reacting to the opposition's criticism of the government, he said it would understand the report when it got its translated copy.

Mr Muzaffar was not available for comment on the period covered in the report, but another official of the Transparency InterAnational, who preferred not to be named, said the report was the 2020 edition. According to the document provided by him, the Transparency International disclosed the full source description of the 2020 report, wherein data from 13 sources was used for the construction of the report.

Out of these reports, three were published in 2019, and these were: Global Insight Country Risk Ratings, 2019; World Bank Country Policy and Institutional Assessment, 2019; and World Economic Forum Executive Opinion Survey, 2019. The only data...