Corruption Lowers Economic, Democratic Performance: Minister Sri Mulyani

TheIndonesia.co - Corruption lowers a country’s economic and democratic performance, so it should be prevented as early as possible through system, culture, and integrity building, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has said.

"This is a disease that exists and can overtake and erode the foundations of a society and a country. Therefore, the danger is real," she remarked at the 2021 Ministry of Finance’s International Anti-Corruption Day celebration on Wednesday, December 8, 2021.

If corruption continues to be prevalent, a decline in the economic performance of a country would mainly happen because, from a macro perspective, there would be inequality and persistent poverty, she explained as quoted by Antara news agency.

People’s quality of life would continue to worsen due to the inequality in income and increasing poverty as well as the difference in income between people who commit corruption and those who are not corrupt, the minister said.

If corruption is rampant, productive activities would be absent such as investment since graft reduces funds available for investment, reduces available job opportunities, and causes high unemployment, leading to increased poverty, she added.

“Those who have funds will think a thousand times before deciding whether they can do productive activities without becoming the victims of corruption,” Sri Mulyani noted.

Those things, in the end, will check economic growth as there will be uncertainty in the implementation of economic programs since funds are being siphoned, making them unavailable for economic development activities, she said.

Democracy and the representation of a nation will also get eroded as a result of corruption practices that lead to a non-transparent government, she explained.

For that reason, corruption prevention must be carried out by countries through the development of a system that is more robust against the possibility of corrupt practices and can curb issues related to culture and integrity, the minister said.

"Integrity is accountability plus competency and ethics, without corruption," she remarked.