This is a disease that exists and can overtake and erode the foundations of a society and a country. Therefore, the danger is realJakarta (ANTARA) - 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 here on Wednesday.
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.
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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, there would be an absence of productive activities such as investment since graft reduces funds available for investment, reduces available job opportunities, and causes high unemployment, leading to increased poverty, she added.
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“Those who have funds will think a thousand times before deciding whether they can do productive activities without becoming the victims of corruption,” Indrawati 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.
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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, Indrawati said.
"Integrity is accountability plus competency and ethics, without corruption," she remarked.
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Translator: Agatha Olivia, Raka Adji
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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