South Africa ranks as the 33rd most competitive market in terms of logistics performance among upper-middle-income economies
Brand South Africa on 6 Sept 2018 welcomed the results of the 2018 World Bank Logistics Performance Index (LPI) – which sees South Africa rank 33 of 160 countries assessed in the index.
The 2018 LPI indicates that South Africa is the third most competitive market in terms of logistics performance among upper-middle-income economies ranking, just behind Thailand and China.
The LPI evaluates 160 countries’ performance in trade logistics and serves to categorize challenges the countries are confronted with and recommends methods that can be adopted to address these. The LPI is comprised of both domestic and international logistics, and provides comprehensive assessments of 160 countries.
The six core components used to measure performance are: the efficiency of customs and border clearance; the quality of trade and transport infrastructure; the ease of arranging competitively priced shipments; the competence and quality of logistics services; the ability to track and trace consignments; as well as the frequency with which shipments reach consignees within scheduled or expected delivery times.
Commenting on the 2018 World Bank LPI results, Brand South Africa’s General Manager for Research Dr Petrus de Kock said: “Logistics performance is vital for a countries’ economic growth and refers to cost, time, and complexity in accomplishing import and export activities. The ability of South Africa to offer diverse logistics services is partly driven by the quality of physical infrastructures such as road, rail, and ports.
“We are pleased with the upward trend in South Africa’s performance in the LPI’s pillar of quality of transport infrastructure, which sees the country’s ranking improve in 2018 to 36 from a position of 38 in 2014. The investment made by the South African government and private sector in infrastructure was also recognised in the 2017-2018 World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index (WEF GCI), which reported that the country improved with three positions at 61 out 137 countries, compared to 64 in the 2016-2017 index.”
This year the World Bank also released a report that provides aggregate performance of all countries based on data from 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018. When viewed in aggregate terms over the 2012 to 2018 period South Africa’s over-all rank is 29/160.
Dr de Kock says, in general terms South Africa performs quite well in the LPI, however it should be noted that in over-all ranking the country retreats from 20/160 (2016), to 33/160 (2018).
“Brand South Africa will share with stakeholders a much more detailed analysis of the findings and will be working with stakeholders to establish focused efforts and implement measures that address the challenges documented in the World Banks’ 2018 LPI report,” concluded Dr de Kock.
