Corruption is seen as one of Africa's critical stumbling-blocks to good governance, inclusive growth and sustainable development. Corruption deprives countries of resources, which would otherwise be channeled into productive sectors for structural transformation. It is undeniable that the 'Africa rising' narrative continues to be marred by how corrupt the continent is perceived to be.
Africa's performance on combating corruption continues to be judged mainly on the basis of popular perception-based indicators. Corruption is, however, highly secretive and so it is difficult to measure its full impact on any economy. The most popular indicators for measuring corruption rely on perceptions and opinions of selected representatives in society. For instance, current measurements of corruption do not take into account the different socio-cultural and geo-political conditions in individual countries. While there is considerable literature, which highlights the subjectivity of corruption indicators, there are still very few studies that have proposed viable alternative measurements.
The Macroeconomic Policy Division (MPD) remains committed to strengthening good governance in Africa and in this regard, has produced African Governance Reports (AGR) to identify policy gaps and provide practical recommendations to member States. The AGR I (2005) assessed citizens' perceptions of governance in their countries; AGR II (2009) analyzed the progress Africa made against key governance benchmarks, including: (i) political governance, (ii) economic governance; (iii) corporate governance, (iv) corruption, and (v) institutional capacity for governance. AGR III (2013) focused on elections and the management of diversity in Africa, while presenting the good governance trends on the continent.
In line with its goal to focus more closely on economic governance issues on the continent, the MPD is currently undertaking an ambitious research project to explore alternative non-perception based approaches to measuring corruption in Africa.
