Teixeira encourages caution with findings of Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index report

As the Government continues to push back on the latest Corruption Perception Index (CPI) report from Transparency International, Minister of Governance and Parliamentary Affairs, Gail Teixeira, believes the findings of the report should be interpreted with caution and supplemented by independent, evidence-based assessments of the state’s governance and anti-corruption performance.

In a statement, Minister Teixeira said the Government of Guyana remains committed to engaging with international partners, civil society, and the media to continue to advance anti-corruption efforts and ensure the responsible use of global indices like the Corruption Perception Index.

The 2025 report, which was released last week, ranked Guyana at 39 out of 100 on the Corruption Perception Index, and described Guyana as a state captured by economic and political elites fostering misappropriation of resources, illicit enrichment and environmental crime.

President Irfaan Ali has dismissed the report as politically biased and dishonest.

In her statement on the report, Minister Teixeira said CPI is not an empirical nor a scientific measure of corruption levels globally, but one of perceived public sector corruption globally.

“Let me at the onset repeat, in order to ensure no misinterpretation, that at no time herein is there an insinuation that corruption is not a problem; rather, the objection is that non-empirical, non-scientific data cannot be the standard by which such a serious issue is measured by Transparency International or any other organization’, Teixeira said.

The Governance Minister explained that the Corruption Perception Index is a perception-based index that aggregates views from 13 sources provided by 12 institutions deemed appropriate by Transparency International (TI).

She said in the case of Guyana, five sources were used, dating from 2022-2024, in which Guyana’s scores ranged from 38 to 44 among the different sources.

“These sources assess perceptions of corruption in the public sector and apply a standardised methodology to produce comparable scores over time”, Teixeira noted.

It was further noted by Teixeira that the CPI measures perceptions of corruption, and not documented incidents, adding that it relies on “subjective assessments” from undisclosed individuals in each country who TI considers to be as experts and businesspeople.

She said over the past 10 years in the CPI report, Guyana has been listed as a “Significant Improver”, and that designation reflects the country’s steady progress in strengthening its governance and anti-corruption mechanisms.

“Within the last five years only, Guyana has implemented key reforms, enhanced institutional oversight, and taken steps to foster greater inclusion, participation, transparency and accountability”, Teixeira stated.

The Government has been dogged by corruption claims over the years, and has stated that it continues to fight the problem. The Opposition political parties have offered their agreement with the Transparency International assessment of perceived corruption in the country.