Fighting corruption

The political will and personal determination to fight corruption in Georgia was the foundation for the implementation of a series of effective measures which drastically reduced the level of corruption in the country and eradicated administrative corruption from daily public life. This fight against corruption was the guiding principle for the many economic and regulatory reforms which the Reformatics team initiated and co-ordinated while in government. Tax and customs reforms, regulations affecting business operations, energy sector restructuring and reforms in the healthcare and education sectors were specifically designed to prevent corruption and to reduce the discretionary powers of civil servants as much as possible.

Corruption in Georgia was tackled through a triangular effort involving economic reform, institutional restructuring and civil service reform, and anti-corruption measures per se. This three-pronged attack against corruption led to tangible results: according to the Transparency International (TI) rankings, Georgia has moved from being one of the ten most corrupt countries in the world in 2003 to being above average in 2010, achieving remarkable results and reducing corruption at record speed. TI’ Global Corruption Barometer ranked Georgia #1 in 2010 in terms of the impressive reduction in the level of corruption, and #2 in terms of the public perception of the government’s effectiveness in fighting corruption. For instance, according to TI’s 2011 Corruption Perception Barometer, only 4 per cent of Georgia’s population reported paying a bribe over the previous 12 months.