According to the director of the Transparency International Yerevan office, Amalya Kostanyan, Armenia has not decreased its corruption levels in 2007 and is still in 82-nd place in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), the organization’s global corruption ranking, reported A1Plus information agency. Ms. Kostanyan stressed that the high corruption index persists despite it being the fourth year of government anticorruption reforms.

Kostanyan also mentioned, as reported by the news source, that according to a telephone survey of Armenians in September 2007, the majority of the polled regarded the “quality and mentality of civil servants,” and not the lack of pertinent state institutions, as the key reason for widespread and unrelenting levels of corruption.

The CPI is a composite index that draws on multiple expert opinion surveys measuring perceived levels of public sector corruption in 180 countries. You can see the 2007 CPI report here.

This information was originally published September 26, 2007 (www.a1plus.am)