Doing Business in Brazil: heading for bottom of Brics class

“Brazil is not for beginners”. That was a line from Tom Jobim, the late Brazilian composer behind the bossa nova hit “The Girl from Ipanema”. And it seems the World Bank could not agree more.

In the bank’s latest Doing Business report, Brazil has fallen six places and is now ranked 126th out of 183 countries. In other words, it’s considered the 58th most difficult place to do business in the world. That’s more difficult than Azerbaijan, Greece, Guyana and Argentina, to name but a few.

Here are the reasons Brazil got relegated:

‘But do you actually want to do business in some of these other places?,’ you might ask. Given the strength of Brazil’s economy, its rapidly-expanding consumer classes and opportunities for growth, isn’t it worth spending a few more hours a year (in the case of Brazil, that’s 2600 hours or, rather, 108 days a year) filling in your tax forms?

Well, on this point, it’s worth looking at how Brazil compares to the other fast-growing Brics countries. And the answer is: not well.

It is already ranked behind Russia, China and newcomer South Africa. And India is catching up fast.

Since last year, India has gained seven places and is now ranked 132nd, Russia is up four spots at 120th, while South Africa has crept up one place to 35th. China has fallen four places to rank 91st.

If this trend continues, Brazil looks set to be at the bottom of the Brics class by next year.