On 19 December, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released new numbers regarding the Brazilian economy in its latest World Economic Report. The report brings more positive news for the country after major ratings agencies, including S&P and Fitch, had already upgraded Brazil’s long-term ratings some days ago.
The report positions Brazil as the 9th largest global economy, with the country expected to end the year with a GDP of US$2.13 trillion.
This means that Brazil has moved two positions in the ranking, coming in just behind Italy in 8th place (US$2.19 trillion). It is worth noting that Brazil had already occupied 6th place in the ranking between 2009 and 2014.
The IMF now predicts that Brazil’s economy will continue to grow next year at a rate of 1.5%, being more cautious in its predictions than other institutions, including projections by the Brazilian government itself. The IMF predicts that by 2026, Brazil could even move into 8th position, given the continuing growth trajectory.
These impressive growth numbers can be linked to the Brazilian government’s implementation of important structural and macro-economic measures aimed at restarting growth, increasing employment, and lowering inflation, including various bills passed by Congress for more revenue to eliminate Brazil’s primary deficit in 2024.
A further example of such a measure is the Brazilian government’s focus on the strengthening of the Agricultural sector, with the allocation in June of R$364.22 billion (circa. US$72.2 billion) in support of agricultural production (this is known as the “Plano Safra/Crop Plan”).
Brazil’s New Tax Reform
Undoubtedly, the most important of recent economic measures taken by the Brazilian government was the recent approval of a landmark tax reform in the Brazilian Congress, seen as a major boost to the economy and future growth.
The reform seeks to simplify the country’s tax system, which currently makes it extremely expensive and difficult to do business in Brazil.
Essentially, it involves merging five current taxes into a value-added tax (VAT) system, which will have separate rates at the federal and regional levels. The specific rates will be decided at a later time through additional legislative measures.
The reform further involves gradually transitioning the tax base from production to consumption over a 50-year period beginning in 2029, also introducing several new funds and compensation mechanisms for states.
The Role of IP and Innovation
In line with the economic reform by the government mentioned above, Brazil’s Patent and Trademark office (BPTO) has also been taking key steps to align itself with other offices around the globe.
For example, in WTR’s annual IP Office Innovation Ranking, which ranks national offices by their use of modern tools and systems, the BPTO rose to 6th place alongside the IP offices of Australia and Chile. Further, after years of stalling and debate, the BPTO finally implemented the Madrid Protocol in 2019, which overall has been going well from a Brazilian perspective, and more recently, the Hague Treaty for Registration of Industrial designs.
Meanwhile, the office stepped up its efforts to decrease its application backlog for both trademark and patent applications, with government sources recently announcing action to significantly reduce the delay in the registration of trademarks and patents by 2026.
The government reaffirmed Brazil’s commitment to the National Intellectual Property Strategy (ENPI) (“Estratégia Nacional de Propriedade Intellectual – ENPI”), which was rolled out in 2020, and aims to create a balanced and effective National IP system, to promote creativity, investments in innovation, and access to knowledge in Brazil.
Finally, in an important move, Brazil’s Interministerial Group for Intellectual Property (known by the acronym “GIPI”) announced recently that it will hold a public consultation process to discuss potential changes to Brazil’s Industrial Property Law (LPI), which may be seen as an important first step in bringing the existing IP laws up to date with recent technology advances in Brazil and across the world.
While there is still no fixed date set for the beginning of the public consultation, our experts at Daniel Law will continue to monitor all developments and will actively participate in the process once it is started.
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Our experts at Daniel Law will continue to monitor all developments and are at your disposal to answer any of your questions. Do not hesitate to get in touch with us.