"What we see is a clear indictment on Sri Lanka and the urgent need for major systemic changes to wipe out corruption," J C Weliamuna, executive director of Transparency International's Sri Lanka chapter said.
"The lesson to learn from the CPI reading this year is that anti corruption should be nothing less than a national priority.
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Though the index is based on perceptions, Weliamuna says it is widely watched and quoted.
It ranks countries in terms of the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians.
Sri Lanka's score of the corruption perceptions index (CPI) fell to 3.1 (from 3.2 last year) which "a serious corruption problem in the public sector in the country," Transparency International Sri Lanka said.
The CPI places the least corrupt countries on a score of 0 and the most highly corrupt on a scale of 10.
India had a score of 3.4 while Maldives 2.5, Bangladesh 2.4, Pakistan 2.4, Nepal 2.3 and Bhutan 5.0. Transparency Internat