Barbados is the least corrupt among nine Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries surveyed by Transparency International (TI) in its Corruption Perception Index (CPI) this year.

The island ranked 20th among 180 countries just behind the United States on the CPI, which measures domestic public sector corruption.

Among the CARICOM countries on the list which was released earlier this week was New Zealand in the number one position, St Lucia ranked 22, St Vincent and the Grenadines 31, Dominica 34, Suriname 75, Trinidad and Tobago 79, Jamaica 99, and Guyana 126. Haiti was last among the region’s countries, at 168.

None of these showed any significant increase in its score since last year, TI said.

It noted that among the 31 countries from the Americas included in the 2009 report, only 10 scored above five, “indicating a serious corruption problem”. Of those 10, Barbados (7.4), St Lucia (7), St Vincent and the Grenadines (6.4) and Dominica (5.9) were the only CARICOM countries to make at least the halfway mark. Suriname got 3.7, Trinidad and Tobago 3.6, Jamaica 3, Guyana 2.6 and Haiti a mere 1.8.

“Although each country has its own particular context, across the board the effects of the financial crisis and the subsequent economic downturn have highlighted the crucial importance of governance in the private and public sectors and in relationships between the two, particularly in respect to stimulus packages which are already pumping large amounts of money into badly affected economies,” TI said in its assessment of the performance of the countries of the Americas.

“States across the region -rich and poor – will have to respond by ensuring that these public funds are handled with integrity.”

The CPI measures the perceived levels of public sector corruption in a given country and is a composite index, drawing on as many as 13 different expert and business surveys.

TI said that as the world economy begins to register a tentative recovery and some nations continue to wrestle with ongoing conflict and insecurity, it is clear that no region of the world is immune to the perils of corruption.

DeLisle Worrell returns as Governor of Barbados’ Central Bank

DR DeLisle Worrell has returned to the Central Bank of Barbados as the institution’s sixth Governor.

Dr Worrell, an economist, worked at the Bank previously between 1973 and 2000, serving as Manager of the Research Department, then Divisional Director of Research, before assuming the post of Deputy Governor. He held the Deputy Governor position between 1990 and 2000, when he retired.

After retiring from the Bank, he joined the International Monetary Fund as Technical Assistance Advisor, Monetary and Exchange Affairs Department; and more recently, he served as the Executive Director of the Caribbean Centre for Money and Finance (CCMF).

Commenting on his return to the Central Bank, Dr Worrell said: “It’s good to be back, and I look forward to working with the Central Bank’s excellent senior management team, and our colleagues in the Ministries of Finance & Economic Affairs, to fulfil the Bank’s responsibility to help the economy through these difficult times.”

Dr Worrell, who holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics from U.W.I. and a PhD in the same subject from McGill University, is a prolific writer both in terms of articles for professional journals as well as books.

His publications include: Economic Adjustment Policies for Small Nations: Theory and Experience in the English-Speaking Caribbean; Monetary Policy in Small Open Economies; Framework for the Analysis of the Effect of the US Devaluation on the Jamaican Economy and Small Island Economies: Structure and Performance on the English-Speaking Caribbean Since 1970.