SA ranks 24th in trade logistics index
South Africa has ranked 24th in the World Bank’s New Logistics Performance Index (LPI), making it the leading African country in trade logistics.
Released on Monday the survey, entitiled Connecting to Compete: Trade Logistics in the Global Economy, is the World Banks first in-depth, cross country assessment of the logistics industry. It provides a comprehensive picture of the supply chain performance of 150 countries.
The LPI is based on a worldwide survey completed by more than 800 logistics professionals and aggregates logistics performance in seven areas. These include customs procedures, costs, infrastructure quality, tracking and tracing, timeliness and the competence of the domestic logistics industry.
South Africa ranked among the world’s top 30 countries in five of the seven categories. The country’s highest rank was in tracking and tracing where South Africa ranked 18th, ahead of countries such as Norway (20th) and the United Arab Emirates (23rd). South Africa ranked 22nd in international shipments, 26th in infrastructure, 27th in customs and 31st in timeliness. The country’s overall score was brought down dramatically in the domestic logistics cost category, with a ranking of 124.
The top three countries in the index are Singapore, the Netherlands and Germany. All developed countries turned out to be top performers with Japan ranked 6th, Hong Kong 8th and the U.S. 14th.
South Africa (24) tops the list of Africa’s rankings, followed by Tunisia (60), Guinea (62) and Sudan (64). At the bottom end of the index are low-income countries, particularly those landlocked in Africa and Central Asia and those afflicted by conflict or severe governance problems. The bottom 10 includes Chad (142), Myanmar (147), Rwanda (148) and Afghanistan (150).
One of the key findings of the survey is that developing countries where trade has been central to their economy perform better than others with similar incomes. Examples among the upper middle income countries included South Africa, Malaysia (27), Chile (32), and Turkey (34). In addition, the report states that “logistic overachievers among developing countries are also those experiencing economic growth led by manufactured exports.”
The report emphasises the importance for developing countries in harnessing global trade and thus reaping the benefits of globalization. “Being able to connect to global markets is fast becoming a key aspect of a country’s capacity to compete, grow, attract investment, create jobs and reduce poverty,” said Danny Leipziger, World Bank Vice-President for Poverty Reduction and Economic Management. “But for those unable to connect, the costs of exclusion are large and growing.”
For more informaion on the World Bank’s first Logistic Performance Index visit: www.worldbank.org
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