Did you know that a global poll of business executives found two in five have been asked to pay a bribe when dealing with business institutions? Half of these estimated that corruption raised project costs by at least 10 per cent. One in five of the executives claimed to have lost business because of bribes by a competitor. More than a third felt that corruption was getting worse.
Moreover, politicians and officials in emerging economies are estimated to receive bribes of between $20bn and $40bn annually – equivalent to some 20-40 per cent of official aid.
No doubt reactions to these estimates will range from “Were you born yesterday?” to “There's capitalism for you”. But although one can, as always, argue about the methodology, these estimates are unlikely to be an overstatement. They come from the latest global corruption report of Transparency International – a non-govermental organisation that, far from being a leftwing agitprop group, is supported by many high-ranking business people and sponsored by the accountancy firm Ernst & Young. Although there is much to query in some of its attitudes, it cannot be at the level of primitive disbelief.