Brazil is only 71st in the Competitiveness Ranking among countries, presented annually in the Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum.
Specifically in the Pillar of Infrastructure, which is one of the pillars that make up the ranking, the Brazilian position was 78th. And if we filter further, to analyze only the position in relation to infrastructure of Transportation, Brazil drops to 85th place.
The Brazilian economy is among the 10 largest in the world, so it is very worrying to know that more than eighty countries are ahead of Brazil in logistics competitiveness…. But although the number is disappointing, the moment is one of optimism, especially for the Infrastructure pillar. Brazil advanced 3 positions between 2018 and 2019 at this point, and the actions of the current government point to a real intention to improve Brazilian infrastructure.
The points considered in the ranking for the pillar of infrastructure of Transportation include the assessment of density and the Quality modes: Highway, Railway, Airports and Maritime. The following figure shows the ranking of Brazil in each of the evaluated modes.
Source: Global Competitiveness Report – World Economic Forum 2019; ILOS analyses.
The results clearly show that all modes need investments to become sufficient and efficient in Brazil.
On the positive side, Brazil's good position in terms of connectivity between airports stands out (17th in the ranking). However, in other points, the country is below expectations due to the size of its economy.
The quality of Brazilian highways is very precarious, and the country was only 116th in the global ranking in this regard. Even with Brazil being considered “highway”, where more than 60% of production is transported by trucks, the quality of roads is visibly below what is needed. Those in better condition are the concession roads, which still represent a small portion of all existing roads in the country.
It is known that the challenges are great to elevate the country to the list of the best in infrastructure and global competitiveness. The actions of the current government have been seeking to attract private capital to leverage the amount of necessary investments, which are not few. Concession plans are already in place, as is the case with the PiPa lot (Piracicaba – Panorama), the longest stretch of road ever passed to the private sector in a single lot, which took place in early 2020 and was purchased by the Pátria group in a consortium with the Sovereign Fund of Singapore.
Many other infrastructure auctions are still expected in all modes, highways, ports, railways and even airports. Although there is still a long way to go for Brazil to be among the highest in the ranking, the path of increasing investments seems to be promising.
For those who want to know the complete ranking of competitiveness between countries, you can access the Global Competitiveness Report at this link.
References:
http://reports.weforum.org/global-competitiveness-report-2019/
http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_TheGlobalCompetitivenessReport2019.pdf
https://ilos.com.br/web/patria-com-fundo-de-cingapura-levam-rodovia-piracicaba-panorama/
Maria Fernanda Hijjar
https://ilos.com.brExecutive Partner of ILOS, holds a master's degree and a degree in Production Engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). With more than 10 years of experience in the field of Logistics and Supply Chain, working on several projects, management and participation in research associated with the subject. She has more than 20 articles in newspapers, magazines, periodicals and congress annals, being co-author of several titles in the COPPEAD Collection by Atlas publishing house and in the Panorama Logístico Collection ILOS and CEL / COPPEAD.
