Brazil Stays 107th in 2025 Corruption Index as TI Flags Structural Risks

Overview

• Transparency International’s 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index scores Brazil at 35 out of 100—up one point from 2024 but deemed statistically insignificant—keeping the country 107th of 182 and below the global and Americas averages of 42.
• TI’s Brazil Retrospective ties the low score to major 2025 cases including Banco Master and large INSS frauds, citing penetration of organized illicit networks into finance and public administration.
• The report catalogs probes such as alleged commerce of sentences at the STJ, Operations Overclean and Sem Desconto, and highlights Operation Carbono Oculto and Compliance Zero (Master) as defining investigations of the year.
• TI warns of “budget capture” as parliamentary amendments surpassed R$60 billion in the 2026 budget and flags signals of regulatory capture in the financial sector, criticizing President Lula’s move to make Otto Lobo the permanent head of the CVM.
• Brazil’s Comptroller General (CGU) disputes using the CPI as a direct gauge of corruption, arguing it reflects perceptions rather than enforcement results and pointing to the INSS case as evidence of improved detection and state capacity.