Mobile Time – 21/01/2026
By Henrique Medeiros*
The agreement Mercosur-EU This could serve as a foundation for growth and attracting investment in digital services and software in Brazil, which are currently "undercapitalized," according to Rodolfo Fücher, vice-president of the board of... Abes (Brazilian Association of Software Companies). With this, the participation of this segment could represent 2% of the national GDP.
Fücher believes that, based on the agreement and investments coming from Europe, convergence to 2% of GDP is feasible, which would lead to the share of software and services in the corporate market reaching US$ 43.4 billion. According to data from IDC with Abes, Currently, the Brazilian software and services segment represents 1.4% of the Brazilian GDP, equivalent to US$$ 30.8 billion or US$$ 150 per capita, below the average of large countries.
For comparison, the study by Abes with IDC, which assesses the use of services and software in B2B in the ten main countries of the Eurozone (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium/Luxembourg [grouped], Denmark, Finland and Ireland) and subsets of the US and UK, demonstrates that:
- In the top ten EU countries, the software and services sector represents 2.21% of GDP and US$1,030 per capita;
- If we consider the 27 EU member countries, the ratio of services and software to GDP falls to 1.5% and US$ 890 per capita;
- In the United Kingdom, per capita consumption of software and services represents 13.31% of GDP and US$1,630 per capita;
- In the US it is 13.6% of GDP and in the US$ it is 2,900 per capita.
The association representative points out that companies in South America, and especially in Brazil, are attractive for European investors because:
- The Brazilian real is weaker than the euro and the dollar, which makes investing in Brazilian companies cheaper;
- THE Selic rate is high (15%), which makes it difficult for companies to access quality capital in the national financial system;
- It allows Europeans to access a market of early adopters and potential technology consumers, as demonstrated by the fact that Brazil is the fifth largest market for internet users, one of the leading markets in social media use, smartphone usage time, and app downloads;
- At the same time, Brazilians can reach relatively unexplored markets in Europe.
Among the sectors that Fücher believes could benefit from exporting services and software to Europeans are agribusiness and the supply of creative technical labor (advertising professionals and designers, for example). Conversely, Europeans could contribute to the development of software, equipment, and skilled labor for Industry 4.0, such as engineers and programmers. But the greatest gain could be in services and software in general, as the global market demands more administration and service provision.
“When you look at the number of companies (in software and services) in Brazil, in 2004, 25% developed software, 19% provided services, and 56% distributed products. In 2024, which is the latest figure we have with IDC, 30% were developing software in Brazil, services rose to 37%, and distribution fell to 33%. So you realize how the market really demanded many more companies providing services,” he said.
As an example of financial transactions occurring from Europe to Mercosur, even before the agreement, the president of Abes mentions the Italian group Almaviva, which recently acquired... Tivit and Magna Systems.
Mercosur-EU: Brazil needs to resolve structural problems.
However, Fücher emphasized that the challenges of the Mercosur-EU agreement for services and IT are no different from the current problems facing South America and its main economic market, Brazil. The representative stressed that there are "structural problems" to be solved, such as regulatory complexity and legal uncertainty, but mainly the high tax burden and the lack of qualified labor.
“When Brazilians import software, on average, 15% is collected in income tax. That is, 15% is directly added to the cost of the product. For services (i.e., SaaS), 25% is collected. There are countries like Germany and France that have tax compensation. The question is whether the agreement will involve this or not (for other European countries),” questioned Fücher. “If there is a reduction/compensation in the provision of services, Brazil will be able to access qualified labor from Europe, for example,” he added.
In this scenario, the representative from Abes points out that the role of digital services and IT within the tax reform (PLP 108/2024) and the regulatory framework for artificial intelligence (PL 2.338/2023These findings are vital in defining the role of Brazil and Latin America on the world stage over the next two decades. In their view, if AI regulation remains "the toughest in the world" and if the tax environment continues to significantly increase the operating costs of Brazilian companies, the competitive advantages and market access to Europe gained from the agreement will be null and void for South Americans.
Main image: Illustration produced by Mobile Time using AI.
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*Reporter for Mobile Time.
