El Salvador takes regional price for graft

El Salvador is the Central American country that is perceived to have the lowest level of transparency in the use of public funds. The World Economic Forum measures the variable in its Global Competition Index.

In the 2018 index, El Salvador scored only 2.1 points of a possible seven. Guatemala scored 2.3. Costa Rica had the best score with 3.5, still well below a satisfactory level.

El Salvador is clearly trying to improve. Two recent ex-presidents have been jailed or are facing charges of corruption.