Barbados is the top rated CARICOM country in the latest Transparency International corruption perceptions index published today.

According to Transparency International (TI) Barbados scored the highest among the Caribbean Community countries on the International Corruption Index with a rating of 65, followed by Bahamas, rated 64, Dominica, 55, St. Lucia, 55, Grenada, 52,  Jamaica, 44 and Trinidad and Tobago with a rating of 42.

Haiti is the lowest rated Caricom country with a meagre score of 17.

Transparency International says no country in the Americas, including the Caribbean, has significantly improved its score since 2017 as it released the 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) showing that corruption remains prevalent across the Americas, as rates remain stagnant in the region.

The CPI ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption on a scale of zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). The Americas average holds at 43, and nearly two-thirds of countries rank below 50.

According to Transparency International weak law enforcement institutions and high levels of corruption have allowed drug cartels to expand to the Caribbean.