Why Fighting Against Corruption Is Paramount?

Today, several socio-economic issues, including the devaluation of national currency, unemployment, elite migration, budget deficit, inflation, environmental crisis and factory closures, are on the minds of politicians and government officials. Corruption and the dismal state of ethical conduct in the administrative apparati are also on this list, but still many of the decision-makers have not felt the necessity of fighting corruption or prioritizing it. 
Nasser Zakeri, an economist, prefaced his article for the Persian daily Shargh with this note. A translation of the text follows:   
I believe the approach toward prioritizing is the result of a wrong view toward major economic and social issues. Under this view, the spread of corruption in the national economy is insignificant and bearable, whereas under a realistic view, the losses caused by corruption are multiple times greater than that of other problems. The losses inflicted by corruption on the country are outlined below: