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Brazil ranks low in competitiveness study
Brazil’s high tax burden and the lofty costs for financing capital have left the country near the bottom of the Competitividade Brasil 2019-2020 report, measuring 61 competitiveness-related variables in 18 countries comparable to Brazil. Only Argentina placed lower in the general ranking, as was the case in the 2018-2019 report. Leading the list were, in order: South Korea, Canada, Australia, China, Spain, and Thailand. Brasília correspondent Renato Alves breaks down the results:
- The report, carried out by Brazil’s National Industry Confederation (CNI), measures nine areas of competitiveness: Financing, Taxation, Labor, Infrastructure and Logistics, Macroeconomic Environment, Business Environment, Productive Structure, Education, and Technology and Innovation. Brazil does not feature in the top six for any of these areas.
Expensive credit. Brazil ranked dead last in the area of financing, with costs to borrow money significantly higher in the country than any other nation in the study. Brazil had the highest short-term interest rates (8.8 percent) and interest rate spread (32.2 percent), with the latter being almost three times larger than second-lowest ranked...