DUSHANBE, November 13, 2014, Asia-Plus -- The TRACE Matrix that was launched by TRACE International on November 11 lists Tajikistan 182nd among 197 countries in terms of business bribery risk.

Turkmenistan is rated 115th, Kazakhstan 141st and Kyrgyzstan 161st. 

Among Central Asian nations, only Uzbekistan is rated below Tajikistan.  Uzbekistan is rated 194th.

Together with Nigeria, Yemen, Angola, Cambodia, Guinea, Burundi, Chad, South Sudan and Vietnam, Uzbekistan is listed among the ten countries with the highest business bribery risk score. 

The TRACE Matrix calculates a composite score for each country around the globe, with a range from 1 to 100: the higher the score, the greater the business bribery risk.  The Matrix assesses countries across four domains – business interactions with government, anti-bribery laws and enforcement, government and civil service transparency, and the capacity for civil society oversight, including the role of the media – as well as nine sub-domains.

Although the resulting index can be used to rank countries by their composite scores, it is also possible to view the results for specific risk factors included in the composite score and identify what drives the overall score. This allows firms not only to identify where a country falls in terms of overall business bribery risk, but also to use the domain and sub-domain scores to tailor their compliance practices appropriately.

The 10 countries with the lowest business bribery risk scores are: Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Sweden, Finland, Singapore, Japan, Germany and the United States.

The TRACE Matrix is reportedly the first business bribery risk index specifically tailored to the needs of the compliance community. Developed in collaboration with RAND Corporation, the TRACE Matrix provides the business community with a powerful new tool for anti-bribery risk assessment.

The TRACE Matrix was designed to help companies assess the propensity for public-sector bribery and its associated business risk while providing actionable intelligence to inform a company''s compliance processes.

TRACE International is a non-profit business association that pools resources to provide practical and cost-effective anti-bribery compliance solutions for multinational companies and their commercial intermediaries.  TRACE members include hundreds of multinational companies, as well as thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises throughout the world.  TRACE is committed to advancing commercial transparency worldwide by providing members with pragmatic alternatives to increasingly time-consuming and expensive corporate compliance.

The RAND Corporation is a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous.  RAND is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and committed to the public interest.  RAND is a global organization with offices throughout the world.