MADRID, Spain (AP)- Haiti’s prime minister has railed against a study ranking his impoverished Caribbean nation as the world’s most corrupt country, saying the figures were outdated and didn’t reflect his administration’s performance.

“The figures used for that report were from 2004 and 2005 and didn’t result from the government over which I preside,” said Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis, who was in Madrid for a Haiti international donors conference.

Of 163 countries surveyed for Transparency International’s 2006 Corruption Perceptions Index, which was released this month, Haiti received the lowest marks. Alexis said the report relied on perception rather than hard facts.

“I think their methodology should be questioned,” Alexis said, without givingdetails. “It doesn’t appear to be very transparent,” he added with a smile.

Home to some eight million people, Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Corruption flourished amid frequent political turmoil over the last 20 years that crippled the economy, scared off investors and destroyed vital state institutions.

A violent and deadly revolt forced the ouster of then president Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February 2004.

President Rene Preval, who took power this year after elections were held, has pledged to fight graft, tighten customs controls on importers and brand Haitians who don’t pay taxes as “traitors”.

“Democracy can’t be instituted like a royal decree- it is a process,” Alexis said at a news conference after meeting with the Spanish Foreign Ministry’s top development aid official, Leire Pajin. “Our government is committed to working to fight corruption, even though it is not as bad as the report would have us believe.”

More than 30 countries and international institutions are attending the aid conference, which is designed to be a follow-up to a July meeting in Haiti at which US$750 million were pledged. The idea is to review how those promises are being implemented and coordinated with Haiti, rather than seek more money.