World Bank tasks developing countries on logistics performance

The World Bank on Friday released its 2023 Logistics Performance Index (LPI) report, urging developing economies to boost their economic growth through improvements in logistics for goods transportation.

The report is a measure of countries’ ability to move goods across borders with speed and reliability.

This is contained in a statement issued by the World Bank’s Online Media Briefing Centre, a copy of which was obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Abuja.

The statement said the 7th edition of Connecting to Compete, the LPI report, came after three years of unprecedented supply chain disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic when delivery times soared.

It said the LPI, which covers 139 countries, measures the ease of establishing reliable supply chain connections and the structural factors that make it possible.

“This includes the quality of logistics services, trade- and transport-related infrastructure, and border controls” the report said.

The statement quoted Mona Haddad, Global Director for Trade, Investment, and Competitiveness, World Bank, as saying “logistics are the lifeblood of international trade.

“Also trade in turn is a powerful force for economic growth and poverty reduction”, the World Bank official said.

Haddad said the Logistics Performance Index helped developing countries identify where improvements can be made to boost competitiveness.

The statement said on average across all potential trade routes, 44 days elapse from the time a container enters the port of the exporting country until it leaves the destination port with a standard deviation of 10.5 days.

“That span represents 60 per cent of the time it takes to trade goods internationally”, Haddad said.

According to LPI 2023, end-to-end supply chain digitalisation, especially in emerging economies, is allowing countries to shorten port delays by up to 70 per cent compared to those in developed countries.

“Moreover, demand for green logistics is rising, with 75 per cent of shippers looking for environmentally friendly options when exporting to high-income countries”, Haddad.