Washington, May 16 (IANS): Global trade logistics performance slowed down over the last two years amid the global recession, but India and others that pursued aggressive reforms continued to improve, according to the World Bank.

India with a Logistics Performance Indicators (LPI) score of 3.08 was ranked 46th in the World Bank's latest survey on trade logistics with Singapore with a score of 4.12 listed as the top performer among the 155 economies included in the report.

Countries like India, Chile, China, Morocco, South Africa, Turkey, and the US all improved their previous performance, according to the study, which is based on a comprehensive world survey of international freight forwarders and express carriers.

According to the LPI report, 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.

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.

"Infrastructure stands out as the chief driver of progress in top performers, followed by improvements in logistics services, and customs and border management," said Mona Haddad, Sector Manager of the World Bank's international trade department.

"All top performers show strong cooperation between the public and private sectors, and a comprehensive approach in the development of 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 suggested.