I recently heard this question: "What is the difference between the Brazilian electricity sector and a battery?"
The answer given was: a battery has a positive side!
Jokes aside, the point is worth considering. Brazil possesses—or, more accurately, used to possess—a reliable firm capacity for renewable power generation (hydroelectric) that could have made our energy among the most competitive in the world.
And, consequently, it could have helped attract companies to set up operations here.
However, what we have been witnessing is what has been termed "deindustrialization." Many companies have left Brazil due to a lack of competitiveness. With some of the highest tax burdens in the world, combined with an overwhelming level of complexity in every conceivable aspect of business, the result is prohibitive costs.
I have seen multinational clients I’ve worked with choose to relocate production lines to various other countries, such as Paraguay, Eastern Europe, and Mexico.
It is high time we took a hard look at the electricity sector—specifically through the lens of competitiveness!