Taken from Sofia Morning News

Bulgaria's slide further down the ranking in Transparency International's annual Corruption Perception Index speaks of disappointment, at home and abroad, with the reform agenda of the government, analysts say.

"
Bulgaria's index is going down and this indicates certain disappointment on behalf of the international business, as well as the Bulgarian community with regard to the potential of the current government to push through consistent institutional reforms,"
political analyst Ognyan Minchev commented on Tuesday.

He stressed that the government's political will to wage an all-out war on corruption is highly assessed, but "
though necessary, it is not enough for coping with Bulgaria's problems"
.

According to Minchev it is the clash between political will and actual results that has pushed the country further down the ranking to spot number 73.

"
This is no good news and shows that the government's anti-corruption efforts have reached a stalemate,"
Diana Kovacheva, Executive Director of the Bulgarian office of Transparency International, said.

Bulgaria is perceived as EU's second most corrupt state, falling behind the other usual suspect Romania, but preceding Greece, an annual corruption index published by Transparency International shows.

More than a year after Prime Minister Boyko Borisov declared an all-out war on corruption, the country has slipped further down the ranking in Transparency International's annual Corruption Perception Index, but fares better than Greece.

Out of 178 countries surveyed, Greece ranked 78. Bulgaria and Romania, who last year shared spot number 71 together with Greece, have now distanced themselves to places 73 and 69, respectively.

The index is composed of 13 different expert and business surveys conducted between January 2009 and September 2010.

Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore tie for top place as the world's least corrupt countries, with the UK 20th.

Russia is rated as among the worst for corruption, in 154th place. And Italy, down in 67th spot, now comes below Rwanda.

Transparency International concludes that some countries have become more corrupt in the past year, particularly the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy and the US.

Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, a square-jawed former bodyguard, once the top official in charge of the country's police and later mayor of its capital Sofia, was elected prime minister in July last year, pledging to eradicate organized crime and grapple with Bulgaria's economic woes and corruption.

His statements however have often drawn criticism that he is more a maverick populist than a reformer.