The authors of the publication processed results of surveys conducted in European and Asian companies and concluded that the the corruption has been on the decline.
"This is the third in a series of World Bank studies that examines patterns and trends in corruption in business-government interactions in the transition countries of Europe and Central Asia. The message of this series is positive: Corruption has fallen since 2000 in many transition countries in the region. Firms are paying bribes less frequently and in smaller amounts (as a share of revenues) than in the past, and they see corruption as less of a problem for business," the World Bank reported on its website.
"There is no room for complacency, however. Corruption is not falling in all countries or all sectors, and even the most successful reformers still tend to have higher levels of firm-level corruption than in Western Europe. The burden weighs most heavily on the new private firms that are the engine of growth and employment in the region. And even in countries that are showing success, the gains are not irreversible. Leaders need to continue to open their economic and political systems to greater competition, foster transparency and accountability in the public sector, and reduce administrative and regulatory burdens for firms," it added.
The third publication which the World Bank has issued on this topic since 1999 monitors a level of corruption in a wide range of interactions between firms and the state, and the document is based on an analysis of the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS), developed jointly by the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
BEEPS is actually a survey of several thousand companies in 26 transition countries and Turkey with the comparison of the results with the situation in five western European countries: Germany, Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain.
Croatian companies covered by the survey reported that the incidence of bribe taking has fallen in many sectors, particularly in the customs.
The improvement is a result of reforms focused on the risk assessment and more selective auditing.
The authors of the publication also assess that prospects of joining the European Union play an important role in encouraging aspirants and candidate countries for the EU membership to counter corruption.
Headway has been made in southeastern European countries also thanks to programmes for removing barriers in transport and trade with the backing of the World Bank the the EU.