16 May 2012

WORLD BANK / INFRASTRUCTURE STUDY

A new study by The World Bank Group indicates that improvements in trade facilitation have lagged since 2010, likely because of the worldwide recession. It warns that to remain competitive in global markets, countries need the infrastructure and resources to export goods quickly and cheaply. WORLD BANK

Posted at: May 16, 2012 12:01 am

Duration: 02:48

Available in: SD

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STORY: WORLD BANK/ INFRASTRUCTURE STUDY
TRT: 2.48
SOURCE: WORLD BANK
RESTRICTIONS: EMBARGOED UNTIL 01:01 A.M. GMT WEDNESDAY MAY 16, 2012
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / FRENCH / NATS

DATELINE: 14 MAY 2012, WASHINGTON DC / FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE – 2011, WORKD BANK HEADQUARTERS, WASHINGTON DC

1. Wide shot, World Bank Headquarters

14 MAY 2012, WASHINGTON DC

2.SOUNDBITE (English) Mona Haddad, Sector Manager of the World Bank's International Trade Department: 
"Trade facilitation and logistics is about how efficiently and timely companies can ship their products to other countries. The trends that we are seeing are changing. There's a gap obviously between high performing countries and low performing countries. Between 2007 and 2010 this gap was declining however between 2012 and 2010 the gap did not decline and we believe that this is because of the global recession."

FILE - JUNE 2010, PORT OF RADES, TUNISIA

3. Pan right, port

14 MAY 2012, WASHINGTON DC

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Mona Haddad, Sector Manager of the World Bank's International Trade Department: 
"Trade facilitation and logistics is important for the competitiveness of countries. Companies can be producing very efficient goods at very good prices and yet by the time they ship them to another country they lose this competitive advantage because of all the inefficiencies in shipment and transport and so on.  So it's really important to improve trade facilitation for the competitiveness of firms."

FILE - JUNE 2010, PORT OF RADES, TUNISIA

5. Zoom out, port

14 MAY 2012, WASHINGTON D.C.

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Mona Haddad, Sector Manager of the World Bank's International Trade Department:
"There are different types of problems for different types of countries. The main binding constraint for low income countries, especially land-locked countries, is infrastructure. And the Bank is working with many countries to improve their trade related infrastructure: roads that lead to ports, etc. When infrastructure is there the next binding constraint becomes more customs and border management reforms as well as trade logistics services such as freight forwarding and trucking services."

FILE - JUNE 2010, PORT OF RADES, TUNISIA

7. Wide shot, crane moving container from ship
8. Close up, container

14 MAY 2012, WASHINGTON DC

9. SOUNDBITE (French) Mona Haddad, Sector Manager of the World Bank's International Trade Department:
"Trade facilitation is defined as the efficiency with which companies import and export their products to other countries. Since 2007 we have seen an improvement in the distance between the performance of developing countries and developed countries in the area of trade facilitation, however, this improvement has faded, in 2012 and we believe this is due to the global economic crisis."

FILE - JUNE 2010, PORT OF RADES, TUNISIA

10. Zoom out, container being moved

STORYLINE:

Progress in trade logistics performance slowed down over the last two years amid the global recession, but countries that pursued aggressive reforms continued to improve their performance, according to the World Bank's latest survey on trade logistics.

Singapore is the top performer among the 155 economies included in the Logistics Performance Indicators (LPI), which are part of the Connecting to Compete 2012: Trade Logistics in the Global Economy report. Countries like Chile, China, India, Morocco, South Africa, Turkey, and the U.S. all improved their previous performance, according to the study, which is based on a comprehensive world survey of international freight forwarders and express carriers.

"Trade facilitation and logistics is about how efficiently and timely companies can ship their products to other countries", said Mona Haddad, Sector Manager of the World Bank's International Trade Department. She added that "the trends that we are seeing are changing. There's a gap obviously between high performing countries and low performing countries. Between 2007 and 2010 this gap was declining however between 2012 and 2010 the gap did not decline and we believe that this is because of the global recession."

According to the LPI, high income economies dominate the top logistics rankings, while the economies with the worst performance are least developed countries that are also often landlocked, small islands, or post-conflict states. Nevertheless, logistics performance is not simply determined by the level of per capita income, as many countries across different income groups have done better than their peers.

In the upper-middle income country category, top performers include South Africa, China and Turkey. In the lower middle income category, India, Morocco and the Philippines have above average performance improvements. And among low-income countries, outperformers included Benin, Malawi and Madagascar.

The survey shows while logistics services have improved compared to past surveys, rail services dissatisfied more than 90 percent of respondents. On the border management side, customs agencies got better ratings than all other agencies involved in the process, with those responsible for sanitary and phyto sanitary regulations lagging behind.

At a time where food prices are at historic highs, the survey also found that logistics is important for food security. Transport and logistics directly affect the price and local availability of food through the performance and resilience of food chains, especially in African and Middle Eastern countries that depend heavily on food imports.

In developing countries, particularly in landlocked and poor ones, transport and logistics account for 20-60 percent of delivered food prices. For instance, they make up 48 percent of the cost of U.S. corn imported by Nicaragua.

The survey, which for the first time included environmental indicators, also found that green logistics is quickly gaining prominence in high-income and emerging economies –a positive development since logistics and freight-related activities may account for up to 15 percent of human carbon dioxide emissions. Large logistics providers like DHL, FedEx, UPS, and TNT, all now have global initiatives to reduce their carbon footprint, shift to more efficient vehicles, make facilities more efficient,  and help clients become more green-friendly

The 2012 LPI shows preconditions for efficient logistics.  All top performers have developed and maintained a strong public-private partnership and dialogue; good cooperation between policymakers, practitioners, administrators and academics; and a comprehensive approach in the development of transport services, infrastructure and efficient logistics.

Only by fostering cooperation between the public and private sectors, and by considering the impact of all agencies on the supply chain can a country create sustainable improvements in its logistical capabilities, the study says.

Filed under 07. - INTERNATIONAL TRADE 1 WORLD BANK.