NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan – Kazakhstan climbed 19 positions, gaining 38 points for the first time in the Corruption Perceptions Index, Olga Shiyan, executive director of Transparency Kazakhstan, said at a briefing on January 28, during the presentation of the results of the study “Monitoring the state of corruption in Kazakhstan for 2020”, implemented with the assistance of the United Nations Development Program in Kazakhstan.
“According to the results, 37.4% of citizens and 45.9% of entrepreneurs indicate a decrease in corruption in their village over the past year. 11.3% of respondents faced everyday corruption when contacting government agencies (13.4% in 2019). 8.2% of business representatives faced the need to resolve the issue informally when contacting government agencies (9.2% in 2019),” Shiyan said.
It is necessary to note a positive picture in the business community: more than 80% of the interviewed entrepreneurs believe that it is quite possible to develop your business in Kazakhstan without giving bribes and working exclusively in the legal field. “The President (70%), the Anti-Corruption Agency (63% and 65%), the Government (59% and 62%), the Civil Service Agency (55% and 59%), and the Nur Otan party (53 % and 55%),” Shiyan said.
Over 60% of the polled Kazakhs said they were ready to assist in the fight against corruption.
According to Shiyan, Transparency Kazakhstan experts interviewed 9,000 respondents at the level of cities, regional and district centers and studied 1,347 applications received on the Open Dialogue portal. The study involved about 200 field sociologists and 12 analysts, who conducted a survey in 3 cities of republican significance, 14 regional, and 143 district centers throughout the country this fall. The methodology is based on two global studies by Transparency International – the Global Corruption Barometer, which measures the corruption experience of the population, and the Corruption Perceptions Index, which assesses the relevance of the topic of corruption in public discourse.
The United Nations Development Program in Kazakhstan is a long-term partner of the government of Kazakhstan, cooperating with government agencies and non-governmental organizations in the prevention of corruption and the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, aimed, inter alia, at protecting the legitimate rights of citizens, accountability of state bodies and citizen involvement in the process decision making.
