Brazil drops in competitiveness ranking and is ahead only of Argentina and Venezuela

Brazil dropped one position in the ranking that measures the level of competitiveness in 64 countries around the world, according to data released this Monday (19th) by the Swiss executive education school IMD. The country is in 60th place, ahead of neighbors like Argentina and Venezuela and nations like Mongolia and South Africa.

The institution took into account economic indicators for 2022 and the opinion of more than 6,400 executives from the 64 countries evaluated. In Brazil, data collection and research were carried out by Fundação Dom Cabral (FDC), which heard more than 100 people from different sectors, regions and company sizes.

According to the survey, Brazil’s assessment improved in the areas of basic infrastructure, attraction of international investment, employment and prices, especially for fuels that had exemptions, and food. However, it still lacks better education conditions, cost of capital, labor legislation, public finances, workforce productivity and less bureaucracy for starting a business.

The FDC analysis points out that Brazilian companies are still lagging behind in the adoption of data analysis tools (big data) and analytical intelligence (analytics), while low productivity is associated with deficiencies in the formation of human capital. In terms of business efficiency, Brazil dropped 12 positions in just two years, going from 49th to 61st.

“Due to the size of the market and the diversity of its economy, Brazil is an attractive country for investments, but the report shows that the competitive conditions offered to companies are worse than those of other countries”, says Carlos Arruda, associate professor at FDC, in an interview with Estadão.

Among its South American neighbors, Brazil is behind nations such as Chile (44th), Peru (55th) and Colombia (58th). The most competitive countries in the world are Denmark, Ireland, Switzerland, Singapore and the Netherlands.