Brazil ICT sector sees growth in 2021, represents 6.9% of GDP
The information technology and communications (ICT) sector has seen double-digit growth in 2021, driven by internal market demand for hardware, software, and services, according to numbers released by the Brazilian Association of Information Technology and Communication Companies (Brasscom).
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In 2021, the Brazilian ICT sector generated revenues of 597.8 billion Brazilian reais, up 18.3% in relation to the previous year, according to the trade body. The association also noted that the sector accounts for 6.9% of Brazil's GDP.
Within ICT, the segment encompassing IT, software, cloud services, and business process outsourcing generated 293 billion Brazilian reais ($62 billion USD). According to Brasscom, this was mainly driven by the domestic market, which represents 80% of the total sector revenues. and grew 49.5% in 2021, totaling 258.4 billion Brazilian reais ($55 billion USD).
According to the trade body, the hardware sector had the best performance, with a 48.6% increase in revenues to 125.5 billion Brazilian reais ($26 billion USD). The software segment saw a 42.5% uptick, to 40.6 billion Brazilian reais ($8.7 billion USD), whilst cloud saw a 36,7% increase in business to 22.6 billion Brazilian reais ($4.8 billion USD). Services firms grew 16.5%, generating 69.7 billion Brazilian reais ($14.9 billion USD) in revenue in 2021.
Revenues for the telecommunications sector reached 251.7 billion Brazilian reais ($54 billion USD) in 2021, an increase of 4.7% on the prior year. According to Brasscom, the segment represents 2.9% of Brazil's GDP. Internal technology departments in non-IT companies such as banks, generated 53 billion Brazilian reais ($11.3 billion USD) in 2021, an increase of 6.4%.
When it comes to exports, the Brazilian ICT sector generated 34.6 billion Brazilian reais ($7.4 billion USD) in revenues in 2021, according to the trade body.
At the start of 2021, market analyst IDC had predicted that the Brazilian ICT market would grow by 7%. At the time, the firm said the Covid-19 pandemic changed investment plans drastically at user organizations, and intentions to boost investments plummeted to a record low in May and June. On the other hand, IDC noted that buyers became a lot more confident about ICT investments in Brazil, with 50% of companies planning to increase spend in 2021.