Thailand's CSI stands best in five year

BANGKOK, January 22 (TNA) - A latest survey to update the corruption situation index (CSI) in Thailand has shown the index's rising to 49 points in December 2014, from 46 points six months earlier, its best position over the past five years. Saowanee Thairungroj, President of Bangkok-based University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC), told journalists of the update on Thursday, saying that the CSI improvement showed the country's corruption situation should be further improved in the future. Saowanee noted the survey found that bribes contractors had to pay for corrupt government officials and politicians to secure their contracts had fallen to 15-25 per cent in June 2014 and to 5-15 per cent at the end of last year, from 25-35 per cent of project costs in 2010-2013. Thanavath Phonvichai, Director of UTCC's Center for Economic and Business Forecasting, acknowledged, meanwhile, that Thailand's latest CSI index stood at its best in five years, from 2010, showing a significant progress. According to the director, some 60 per cent of respondents in the latest survey viewed that corruption in Thailand was steadily declining after the army-led National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) seized administrative power in May 2014 and they viewed that the corruption situation in the country should further improve in the future. The director assessed that corruption suppression should help boost Thailand's economic growth by 1 per cent. (TNA)