Transparency International launched the Corruption Perception Index 2012 (CPI) in Berlin on December 5. According to the organization, corruption continues to ravage societies around the world. Moldova saw a slight improvement in this respect compared with last year, ranking 94th out of 176 countries included in the ranking, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to a communiqué from Transparency International Moldova, Moldova climbed 18 positions from 2011. Romania ranked 66th, Ukraine – 144th, while Russia – 133rd. The researches of Transparency International Moldova confirmed the slight improvement in the situation in Moldova. The study “Perceptions and experiences of household representatives and businessmen regarding corruption in the Republic of Moldova” shows that the number of those who would categorically refuse to offer bribe and of those who consider the acceptance of unofficial payments as inadmissible is increasing. The lower tolerance of corruption imposes more requirements on the representatives of all the state power branches. Combating of corruption should be focalized in the legal system in order to strengthen the rule of law and ensure the supremacy of law, in the executive in order to stimulate economic growth and increase budget revenues, in the legislature in order to rehabilitate the image of this body and to bring the scandalous disputes about corruption among MPs to an end. “Governments need to integrate anti-corruption actions into all public decision-making. Priorities include better rules on lobbying and political financing, making public spending and contracting more transparent and making public bodies more accountable to people,” said Huguette Labelle, the Chair of Transparency International. The Corruption Perceptions Index ranks countries and territories based on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to be. It scores countries on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). This year Moldova’s score is 36 points. In the Corruption Perceptions Index 2012 Denmark, Finland and New Zealand tie for first place with scores of 90. Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia once again cling to the bottom rung of the index with 8 points each. While no country has a perfect score, two-thirds of countries score below 50, indicating a serious corruption problem.