Bulgaria is ranked 72nd out of a total of 180 countries in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2008, it emerged at a news conference at the BTA National Press Club on Tuesday.

Among the EU member states, Bulgaria has the lowest CPI for 2008, said Diana Kovacheva, Executive Director of Transparency International Bulgaria.

Bulgaria was first included in the CPI in 1998 with a value of 2.9 points. In 2002-2007 the index of Bulgaria does not have significant changes, and moves around 4 points. For 2008, the index for Bulgaria registers a serious decline, and stands at 3.6 points. In the report, the lowest corruption levels receive 10 points, and the highest levels receive 0 points.

Dimiter Kyumyurdjiev, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of the Transparency Without Borders Association, said that for the first time Bulgaria not only does not increase its index, but lowers it.

He noted that, according to studies, Bulgaria is no longer a sustainably corrupt country but a strongly corrupt one. It is unacceptable for a country which has been in the EU for a second year to have a lower index than its neighbors which are not members of the Union, Kyumyurdjiev said.

Source: BTA