Brazilian IT industry grows despite crisis

The Brazilian IT sector has generated $60bn in 2014 despite challenging economic conditions, according to a report published by the Brazilian Association of Software Companies based on IDC numbers.

The results indicate growth of 6.7 percent in relation to the prior year and position Brazil as the seventh largest technology market in the world, according to the study.

Within Latin America, Brazil appears as the main IT industry with 46 percent of all sector investments last year. Software business represented $11.2bn, services accounted for $14bn while hardware represents the remainder of the business generated in 2014.

When it comes to software specifically, apps represented 44 percent of all investments, while development accounted for 31.3 percent, followed by infrastructure and security with 22.7 percent. Systems for clients outside Brazil accounted for 1.9 percent of the software business generated in 2014.

According to the study, the small and medium enterprise bracket of the industry represents 95 percent of all IT companies in Brazil. The southeast of Brazil, where São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are located, concentrate most of the business activity with 60.6 percent of all investments made.

The Brazilian technology sector also continues to create jobs despite the country's current economic slowdown: separate research suggests that over the first half of 2015, the number of IT jobs on offer in Brazil has gone up by 44,2 percentin relation to the same period in the prior year.