Moldova moved up on the 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) published by Transparency International (TI) on November 17. This year, Moldova takes the 92nd position out of 180 countries surveyed, as opposed to the 112th place in 2008, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting a communiqué from TI Moldova. The CPI ranks 180 countries according to the perceived levels of corruption among public officials and politicians, as assessed by international experts and institutions. It scores countries on a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is perceived to be highly corrupt and 10 indicates low levels of corruption. Moldova’s score is 3.3 points, as against 2.9 points last year. According to TI experts, the situation has improved owing to the large financial resources provided by international organizations to fight corruption (the Millennium Challenge Corporation – over US$24 million, the Council of Europe – over €3.5 million euros, the UNDP – US$400,000). Though this money was not channeled directly into anticorruption activities, but into infrastructure, certain effects began to be felt. On the other hand, the change of power leads to the modification of the public expectations about the extent of corruption. The authors say in 2001, when essential changes took place in the political sector, the expectations were more pessimistic and the CPI fell from 3.1 to 2.1 points. This year, after another radical change in the government, the expectations have been more optimistic and the CPI rose from 2.9 to 3.3 points. "Stemming corruption requires strong oversight by parliaments, a well performing judiciary, independent and properly resourced audit and anti-corruption agencies, vigorous law enforcement, transparency in public budgets, revenue and aid flows, as well as space for independent media and a vibrant civil society," TI recommends. Highest scorers in the 2009 CPI are New Zealand at 9.4, Denmark at 9.3, Singapore and Sweden tied at 9.2 and Switzerland at 9.0. Fragile, unstable states that are scarred by war and ongoing conflict linger at the bottom of the index. These are: Somalia, with a score of 1.1, Afghanistan at 1.3, Myanmar (Burma) at 1.4 and Sudan tied with Iraq at 1.5. The Corruption Perceptions Index 2009 was compiled on the basis of 13 surveys conducted by think tanks like the World Economic Forum, the Economist Intelligence Unit, the World Bank, Freedom House, Bertelsmann Foundation, and Global Insight.