Brazil ICT to represent 10.7 percent of GDP by 2022

Brazil's IT and communications sector is expected to represent 10.7 percent of the country's gross domestic product, government officials told delegates at an industry event today.

The expectation is that the share of the ICT sector in Brazil's GDP will jump from 8.8 percent in 2013 to 10.7 percent in 2022, with exports reaching R$12bn ($3.96bn) and 3 million people employed within the sector versus 1,5 million in 2013.

Secretary for information technology policy at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation Virgílio Almeida made the predictions at a conference promoted by the Brazilian Internet Association to discuss challenges and opportunities for Internet companies.

The numbers are a lot more optimistic when compared to the predictions made by the country's man IT trade body, the Brazilian Association of Information Technology and Communication Companies (Brasscom), a couple of years ago: the association had predicted that the participation of the ICT sector in the economy would rise to 8 percent within the same timeframe.

The government's predictions regarding competitiveness should also be taken with a large pinch of salt, since recent tax measures designed to shore up the country's budget have more than doubled social security contributions that sector companies have to pay.