The most corrupt countries in the world, ranked in order

Transparency International has released its annual Corruption Perceptions Index, which ranks 175 countries on their levels of public sector corruption.

A statement released with the report indicated that a low score “is likely a sign of widespread bribery, lack of punishment for corruption and public institutions that don’t respond to citizens’ needs”.

It is pointed out that while no countries score 0 (highly corrupt), there are also none scoring a perfect 100 (very clean).

Bribes and backroom deals don’t just steal resources from the most vulnerable – they undermine justice and economic development, and destroy public trust in government and leaders.

Transparency International

Britain scores 78 which takes it up to 14 on the list and overall the country has seen a steady improvement over the past two years (2012: 74, 2013: 76).

Read the full article here.

Read More

How low can interest rates go?

The Bank of England's website says that the "effective lower bound" for the interest rate it sets, Bank Rate, is the current rate of 0.5%.

This is the level, according to the Bank, "below which it cannot be set" - the lowest practicable official interest rate.

But on this important issue the website is behind the thinking of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, which sets Bank Rate as its main tool to keep inflation on target.

Because just over a month ago, the Bank's governor said that if low inflation were to begin to depress expectations of inflation and wage growth, the MPC could "cut Bank Rate further towards zero".

And with inflation well below the 2% target at zero, the Bank's chief economist, Andy Haldane, has said - as a personal rather than institutional view - that there is a meaningful chance that Bank Rate will be cut.

Read the full article here.

Read More

China's core inflation rises by 1.4% in February - BBC

China's core inflation rate rose by 1.4% in February from a year earlier, recovering from a more than five-year low and exceeding most expectations.

The consumer price inflation (CPI) data compares with a rise of 0.8% in January, which was the weakest reading since November 2009.

China's new consumer inflation target is about 3%, down from 3.5% in 2014.

The rise in inflation for the period was attributed by officials to China's Lunar New Year celebrations.

The official number could ease some deflation worries for the world's second-largest economy, although analysts were unconvinced the holiday period was a factor for the year-on-year rise.

Read the full article here.

Read More