Unlawful market causes losses of virtually R$ 337 billion in Brazil

Loss includes actions such as smuggling, piracy, evasion and theft of public services, say entities

Practices of the so-called illegal market caused a loss of R$ 336.8 billion to Brazil in 2021, estimates a survey released this Thursday (4) by business entities in Rio de Janeiro.

The calculation includes the effects of actions such as smuggling, piracy, unfair competition due to tax fraud, tax evasion and theft of public services.

Of the total amount, R$ 95 billion refer to unpaid taxes that could be reversed in the welfare of society, indicates the technical note, which draws attention to the existence of an “illegal Brazil”.

The survey was produced in a partnership between ACRJ (Commercial Association of Rio de Janeiro), Fecomércio RJ (Federation of Commerce of Goods, Services and Tourism of the State of Rio de Janeiro) and Firjan (Federation of Industries of the State of Rio de Janeiro) .

At the beginning of the year, the entities created a working group that analyzed the topic. The initiative consolidated data that measure the impact of the illegal market on 16 economic activities, in addition to electricity and water supply services, which are part of the infrastructure area.

According to the study, the loss of R$ 336.8 billion is equivalent to the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of Bahia and Sergipe added. The entities also estimate that the illegal market hampered the creation of 535,700 formal jobs in the country.

“The results presented by the GT [grupo de trabalho] are extremely important, not only for our city, but for the state of Rio and for the country”, said the president of ACRJ, José Antonio do Nascimento Brito.

“It is necessary to keep in mind that these figures interfere in people’s lives. With adequate public policies and the union and participation of the productive sector and the authorities, this scenario can and needs to be reversed, generating gains for all”, said the president of Fecomércio RJ, Antonio Florencio de Queiroz Junior.

Among the economic activities evaluated, the study points to losses caused by the illegal market in the order of R$ 60 billion in clothing, R$ 26 billion in fuel and R$ 21 billion in cosmetics.

Categories classified as alcoholic beverages (R$ 17.6 billion), agricultural pesticides (R$ 15.1 billion), pay TV (R$ 15 billion) and cigarettes (R$ 13.3 billion) come next.

In infrastructure services, the working group indicated that costs with energy theft, popularly called “cats”, reached the mark of R$ 6.5 billion last year.

The work points out that, according to Aneel (National Electric Energy Agency), the rate of non-technical losses –such as energy theft– is 15% in Brazil. In the North region, the value exceeds 50%.

The entities also claim that, according to data from Abradee (Brazilian Association of Electricity Distributors), the amount of stolen electricity in Brazil would be enough to supply the state of Rio de Janeiro for a year.

Source: Leaf