Brazil

This chapter describes how water charges currently operate in Brazil. It presents the legal and institutional framework for water charges and reviews the experience of federal and state governments, grouping them in five clusters: pioneers; followers; inspirational; newcomers; and aspirants. The chapter highlights several common challenges in terms of setting clear objectives for water charges, developing plans that can drive decisions, putting in place an adequate information system and making the most of collected revenues for the benefit of water users.

This chapter discusses how water is being allocated in Brazil and highlights some of the main achievements thus far. While acknowledging the diversity of contexts and arrangements across the country, the chapter also identifies several weaknesses, which need to be addressed so that water effectively contributes to broader policy objectives in Brazil in the fields of economic development, social equity and environmental performance.

Water is abundant in Brazil, but unevenly distributed across regions and users. Remarkable progress to reform the sector has been achieved since the 1997 National Water Law, but economic, climate and urbanisation trends generate threats that may jeopardize national growth and development. The consequences are particularly acute in regions where tensions across water users already exist or are likely to grow. The report is the result of a policy dialogue with more than 100 stakeholders at different levels in Brazil. It assesses the performance of Brazil’s water governance and suggests policy recommendations for strengthening the co-ordination between federal and state water policies and for setting up more robust water allocation regimes that can better cope with future risks. The report concludes with an action plan, which suggests concrete milestones and champion institutions to implement those recommendations.

This report examines the current system of water abstraction and pollution charges in operation in Brazil. It assesses the current system’s implementation challenges and provides possible solutions. The report explores how water charges can be both an effective means for dealing with water security issues, and a tool for enhancing economic growth and social welfare. Specific analysis is put forward for three case studies in the State of Rio de Janiero, the Paraiba do Sul River Basin and the Piancó-Piranhas-Açu River Basin. The report highlights that water charges need to operate in conjunction with an effective water regulatory regime and concludes with an Action Plan based on practical steps and recommendations for its implementation in the short, medium and long-term.
 

Innovation is a continual journey of discovery – of venturing into the unknown. There can be no certainty as to what should be done when it comes to innovation, as it will depend upon an ever-changing context. The need for innovation in Brazil will continually adjust as the context evolves – as new needs and issues arise and old ones change. This chapter explores three different scenarios to better illuminate the dynamics of the Brazilian system. Each scenario presents a different pathway illustrating how events in the Public Service could unfold, making explicit the underlying assumptions about what could happen and why.

This paper studies the potential drivers of governments’ approval rates in 18 Latin American countries using Internet search query data from Google Trends and traditional data sources. It employs monthly panel data between January 2006 and December 2015. The analysis tests several specifications including traditional explanatory variables of governments’ approval rates – i.e. inflation, unemployment rate, GDP growth, output gap – and subjective explanatory variables – e.g. perception of corruption and insecurity. For the latter, it uses Internet search query data to proxy citizens’ main social concerns, which are expected to drive governments’ approval rates. The results show that the perception of corruption and insecurity, and complaints about public services have a statistically significant association with governments’ approval rates. This paper also discusses the potential of Internet search query data as a tool for policy makers to understand better citizens’ perceptions, since it provides highly anonymous and high-frequency series in real-time.

After two years of recession in 2015 and 2016, the Brazilian economy was gradually recovering, when the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak hit. The economy is projected to contract by more than 9.1% during 2020 in the double-hit scenario, which assumes a second lockdown in Brazil at the end of the year. The recovery in 2021 would be moderate in this scenario, with projected growth of 2.4%. In the single-hit scenario, the economy is projected to contract by 7.4% during 2020, followed by an expansion of 4.2% in 2021. As lockdown measures are eased and activity resumes, the economy is projected to recover slowly and partially, but some jobs and firms will not be able to survive. Unemployment is predicted to reach historic highs before receding gradually (OECD, 2020a).