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 Brazil has climbed eight positions in the competitiveness ranking issued annually by the World Economic Forum in partnership with the Dom Cabral Foundation. The country now occupies the 56th position in a group of 133 economies.
The Global Competitiveness Report 2009 reveals that Brazil has bettered its position due mainly to its progress in the indicators of macroeconomic stability and financial market sophistication. In both aspects, the country gained 13 positions.
A professor at the Dom Cabral Foundation, Carlos Arruda, underscored that Brazil is still far from the "top ten" in the ranking, but that it was the "highlight" of this year's report.
"If we consider the country's size and the fact that it has been continually gaining positions, then Brazil was unquestionably the highlight this year," says Arruda, who coordinates the survey in Brazil. Over the last three years, the country gained 16 positions.
According to the report, Brazil had the best performance among the world's four leading emerging countries, the so-called BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China). China and India gained one point each, whereas Russia lost 12 - having ranked lower than Brazil for the first time.
Arruda stated that, in the case of Brazil, there was "important" progress with regard to economic stability, but Brazil still occupies a "low" position in the ranking for the category (109th).
He called attention to rising consumption and inflation control in the country as factors that helped Brazil improve its position in this respect. "But economic stability is not our strong point yet. In terms of interest charged by the banks, for instance, Brazil ranks 128th," said the professor.
The competitiveness report takes 12 indicators into consideration. Brazil ranked best in terms of market size (9th) and business environment (32nd) - virtually the same levels as those of the 2008 survey. According to Arruda, there was also improvement in terms of labor market efficiency (11 positions), which mostly evaluates the relations between employers and employees.
Despite having gained eight points in the ranking, Brazil still ranks lower in several aspects, such as macroeconomic stability (109th), market efficiency (99th) and institutions (93rd).
According to Arruda, when it comes to competitiveness, the country has three "endemic" issues, that is, areas in which Brazil is unable to improve its position, namely: lack of reforms (among them the tax reform); infrastructure; and ethics in public management. "With regard to the latter, we are among the worst in the world," he stated.
According to the professor, the survey, conducted among chairmen of companies worldwide, takes into consideration not only the statistics for each country, but also the perceptions of businessmen. The data were collected from January to June this year.
The report also shows that the international financial crisis had no significant impact on the ranking. Despite the United States having lost its leadership position to Switzerland, there are no significant differences among the first ten countries in the list.
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