WASHIGNTON, July 10 – The World Bank Institute and the World Bank Development Economics Vice-presidency issued the report Governance Matters, 2007: Worldwide Governance Indicators 1996-2006 which showed that a number of countries were making progress in improving governance and fighting corruption.
“The hopeful news is that a considerable number of countries, including in Africa, are showing that it is possible to make significant governance progress in a relatively short period of time. Such improvements in governance are critical for aid effectiveness and for sustained long-run growth.” says Daniel Kaufmann, co-author of the report and Director of Global Programs at the World Bank Institute “Bribery around the world is estimated at about US $1 trillion dollars, and the burden of corruption falls disproportionately on the bottom billion people living in extreme poverty,”
The report also drew attention to events in Albania.
Albania continues to perform well on Voice & Accountability while moving out of the lowest level on Political Stability for the first time. Government effectiveness has fluctuated over time but remains below its 2004 peak, while the substantial improvements in Regulatory Quality between 1998-2004 have moderated in recent years. The country continues to perform poorly on Rule of Law and Control of Corruption indicators, with the latter one seeing little improvement since 2000.
1. Voice and Accountability. Since 1996, when only 32% of countries where ranked worse then Albania, in 2006 an average 50% of the countries (out of 213) are ranked worse then Albania, which indicates some improvement during the last decade in this specific indicator. But, over the last few years since 2004 (2004 – 2006) as shown from the table, Albania has remained the same in the voice and accountability indicator. Compared with the regional average (Eastern Europe and Baltic), Albania is ahead of Montenegro and Kosova, but still slightly behind Macedonia, Bosnia – Herzegovina, and Serbia. Among Low and Middle Income countries, Albania remains above average on this indicator.
2. Political Stability. In 2005, Albania recorded improvements in this indicator moving for the first time since 1998. In 2006, almost 30% of the countries are rated worse then Albania. However, the country lags considerably behind the regional average (Eastern Europe and Baltic) in this indicator. In comparison with the neighboring countries, Montenegro is politically more stable then Albania, while Bosnia – Herzegovina, Macedonia and Serbia are falling behind.
3. Government Effectiveness. Unlike all the other sub-indicators where the improvements have been quite linear, for this indicator there have been both improvements and deterioration over time. Overall, there is improvement compared to 1998, and the best ever score for Albania was achieved in 2004, followed by a sharp decline in 2005 and with an improvement in 2006, but still not reaching the 2004 level. Compared with the regional average (Eastern Europe and Baltic), Albania continues to lag considerably behind the average for this category. Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro are all performing better than Albania, while Bosnia – Herzegovina remains behind. While compared within the income category (Low and Middle Income), Albania, in this specific indicator, is marginally ahead of the average score for the countries of this category.
4. Regulatory Quality. Since 1998, these indicators report an improvement in the regulatory quality. These improvements were substantial from 1998 – 2004, then more gradual in the last 3 years (2004, 2005, and 2006). Just under half of the countries rank worse then Albania in this indicator, but the country remains below average within the region (Eastern Europe and Baltic). Closer to home, Albania has a regulatory framework that is considered advanced compared to Bosnia – Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia, while Macedonia is ahead. Within the income category (Low and Middle Income), Albania, in this specific indicator, is considerably ahead of the average score for the countries of this category.
5. Rule of Law. Since 1998, Albania has been making gradual improvements in this category, but still falls within/close to the “red” zone (0 – 25% percentile). In 2006, only 28% of the countries rated worse. Compared with the regional average (Eastern Europe and Baltic), Albania is falling far behind the average for this category. Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia – Herzegovina and Macedonia are all performing better then Albania in this category. While compared within the income category (Low and Middle Income), Albania, in this specific indicator, is lagging behind the average score for the countries of this category.
6. Control of Corruption. Since 1998 through 2000 there was considerable improvement in this indicator. However, from 2000 until 2006, there was hardly any improvement, with a drawback in 2004. Only 28% or 29% of the countries are rated worse then Albania. Compared with the regional average (Eastern Europe and Baltic), Albania is falling far behind the average for this category. Albania is performing considerably worse then Serbia, Bosnia – Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, and is comparable only to Kosova. Albania also lags behind the average for Low and Middle Income countries in this specific indicator.
