The progress of Slovenia is within the standard deviation, which means it is negligible, secretary general of TI Slovenija Vido Doria told the press on Wednesday.

The Corruption Perceptions Index lists countries according to their perception of corruption in the public sector based on independent sources. The higher the country's grade, the smaller is its perception of corruption.

Despite climbing four spots this year, Slovenia has made no notable progress in the index since 2012, when it scored 61 points.

There are still many areas in Slovenia which allow for systemic abuse - and this undermines people's trust in these institutions, according to Doria.

He pointed to the recent high-profile scandals related to the managing of state assets and the use of public funds.

The Commission for Prevention of Corruption also said today it had not detected any significant progress in the fight against corruption in Slovenia.

Corruption and not assuming responsibility for one's actions in key political posts, the public sector and elsewhere are key obstacles to Slovenia's progress, the anti-graft body said.

It therefore called for concrete measures at all levels and welcomed the government's efforts to this end.

The commission said it was working on changes to the act on integrity and prevention of corruption together with the Public Administration Ministry and other bodies.

Doria meanwhile said major faults had been detected in the public procurement system, in local government, and in the top-level decision-making. All this affects corruption perception, he added.

Slovenia's poor performance is a signal to decision-makers to speed up systemic reform of the fight against corruption, especially in local government, where there is very little political will for such changes, the NGO said.

Doria also called for systemic changes in the transparency of law-making, public sector data, public procurement and the use of alternative tools for public finance oversight.

On a positive note, he praised the legislative changes in access to public information.

Doria was also critical of the state of affairs at the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption, saying that internal discord is hampering the work of the anti-graft body. This will further damage Slovenia's reputation in this area, he believes.

The commission said it was aware of its responsibility, which was why it would strive to build up its reputation with "legitimate, professional and devoted work".