Data suggest that transparency helps improve governance and reduce corruption - essential ingredients for better development and faster economic growth. But there is a need to pay more attention to the issue. For that reason, the World Bank Institute has begun to construct an index to help make transparency more transparent. Further, in terms of reforms, a basic checklist, which countries may use for self-assessment, includes:

• public disclosure of assets and incomes of candidates running for public office, public officials, politicians, legislators, judges, and their dependents;
• public disclosure of political campaign contributions by individuals and firms, and of campaign expenditures;
• public disclosure of all parliamentary votes, draft legislation, and parliamentary debates;
• effective implementation of conflict of interest laws, separating business, politics, legislation, and public service, and adoption of a law governing lobbying;
• publicly blacklisting firms that have been shown to bribe in public procurement (as done by the World Bank); and "publish-what-you-pay" by multinationals working in extractive industries;
• effective implementation of freedom of information laws, with easy access for all to government information;
• freedom of the media (including the Internet);
•  fiscal and public financial transparency of central and local budgets, adoption of the IMF’s Reports on Standards and Codes framework for fiscal transparency, detailed government reporting of payments from multinationals in extractive industries, and open meetings involving the country’s citizens;
• disclosure of actual ownership structure and financial status of domestic banks;
• transparent (web-based) competitive procurement;
• country governance and anticorruption diagnostics and public expenditure tracking surveys (such as those supported by the World Bank); and
• transparency programs at the city (and subnational) levels, including budgetary disclosure and open meetings.

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Source: Finance & Development, September 2005, P. 43
Link: World Bank Institute