The Brazilian Competitiveness Cliff
Brazilian exports of goods and services have grown sharply in recent years, with sales nearly three times higher in 2010 than in 2000. However, Brazil faces considerable competitiveness challenges: its export performance depends mostly on favorable...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2014
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/02/17235635/brazilian-competitiveness-cliff http://hdl.handle.net/10986/17038 |
| Summary: | Brazilian exports of goods and services
have grown sharply in recent years, with sales nearly three
times higher in 2010 than in 2000. However, Brazil faces
considerable competitiveness challenges: its export
performance depends mostly on favorable geographical and
sector composition effects. Such challenges increased after
the recent global economic crisis. A recent slowdown in
industrial exports, production, and investments seems
related to supply-side difficulties stemming from a wide
range of inefficiencies and rising costs, rather than
insufficient demand. Although a stronger currency is one of
the factors behind the lower competitiveness of
Brazil's manufacturing exports, sluggish productivity
performance, lack of dynamism at the firm level, and a real
wage uptrend seem to explain a significant part of the
overall loss of competitiveness. This diagnostic reinforces
the urgency of resuming the agenda of microeconomic reforms,
increasing the investment-to-Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
ratio, and advancing toward better-skilled human capital. |
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