Qatar has been ranked first amongst Arab countries in combating administrative corruption, according to the Competitiveness of Arab Economies Report for 2016, issued by the Arab Monetary Fund.
Qatar topped the index, which focuses on the extent of individuals’ practice in public authority for personal gain, the extent of the spread of administrative corruption within the judiciary system, as well as all forms of corruption that impede the implementation of the business, besides measuring the state’s seriousness in fighting corruption.
“This comes as a recognition of the efforts of Qatar to maintain its advanced positions in the international indicators in combating corruption - thanks to the attention given by HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to set the necessary legislations, the seriousness of the state in the application of rule of law, attention to institutional and transparency parameters, and the effectiveness of performance in all of the State’s institutions,” the Administrative Control & Transparency Authority said in a statement.
Competitiveness Index reflects the state’s role in the courts’ justice and the policies practiced towards the citizens; how effective it is in addressing favouritism, its ability to formulate and implement effective and sound policies, respect for the citizens’ rights, and the role of judiciary in combating administrative corruption and bribes. Besides all of the processes that are identified and monitored by the government, which are in favour of the citizen.
Qatar achieved the first place in combating administrative corruption and taking judicial actions to protect the rule of law and anti-corruption in the state’s institutions. That includes the policy to apply punishments on corrupt individuals as well as cleansing the business sector from corruption, in order to provide foreign companies with a high degree of safety and confidence.
Qatar has achieved in this indicator a standard grade of 1.608. The report emphasised that the advanced position achieved by Qatar came as a result of the government’s efforts, represented by the establishment of the rule of law and anti-corruption centre, which has contributed to raising awareness and building partnerships by spreading cognitive awareness in the frameworks of administrative anti-corruption.
Competitiveness Report revealed that Qatar leads a number of other indicators, such as non-performing loans index, with the state occupying the first place, through recording the least rate of non-performing loans with a standard grade of 0.927, as the default percentage has reached only 1.8% on average in the past three years.
The report justified the progress of Qatar in these indicators, stating that the country benefited from the progress that has been made on the three major levels, represented by rule of law, anti-corruption and government effectiveness.
The report emphasised on the efforts of Qatar in the field of rule of law, which was represented by the trust of citizens, and the extent of their compliance with the rules of civil society, as well as to the effectiveness of the judiciary, courts, and the police, property rights and how to implement contracts, and certainly hold accountable the personnel who are proved that they used their positions for personal gain, and to hold police officers who were convicted of offending citizens or residents accountable.
Qatar also has topped the key indicators for the report at the level of the Arab world, and was the first Arab country in the rule of law at the standard index, with a value of 1.310.
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