In good news for Pakistan, a global graft watchdog today placed the country several notches higher than its ranking last year in its annual index of corruption worldwide.
Pakistan ranked 48th from the bottom on the list of countries in Transparency International's 2013 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI).
It had ranked 36 from the bottom in last year's list.
Its ranking on the CPI had gone from the 42nd most corrupt country in 2011 to 33rd in 2012 during the Pakistan People's Party-led government.
An improvement in ranking indicates an improvement in the country's perception under the new government that was swept to power in the May 11 general elections.
Last year, Pakistan was also declared the seventh most corrupt country out of 97 in the Rule of Law Index.
In the CPI 2013, Denmark and New Zealand tie for first place with scores of 91.
Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia this year make up the worst performers, scoring just 8 points each.
"The Corruption Perceptions Index 2013 demonstrates that all countries still face the threat of corruption at all levels of government, from the issuing of local permits to the enforcement of laws and regulations," Huguette Labelle, chair of Transparency International, said in a statement.
"The top performers clearly reveal how transparency supports accountability and can stop corruption," said Labelle.
"Still, the better performers face issues like state capture, campaign finance and the oversight of big public contracts which remain major corruption risks," the report said.
No country has a perfect score, and two-thirds of countries score below 50.
This indicates a serious, worldwide corruption problem.
"The world urgently needs a renewed effort to crack down on money laundering, clean up political finance, pursue the return of stolen assets and build more transparent public institutions," Transparency International said.
First launched in 1995, CPI ranks countries and territories based on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to be.
A country or territory's score indicates the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) - 100 (very clean). A country's rank indicates its position relative to the other countries and territories included in the index.
This year's index includes 177 countries and territories.
