Guedes says there are more iPhones in Brazil than the population

The Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, said this Friday (6) that the number of iPhones in Brazilian territory is greater than the number of inhabitants. The speech, praising the Bolsonaro government for its investment in technology, was made at the ceremony to launch the National Fertilizer Plan — anticipated by the crisis resulting from the war in Ukraine.

According to the minister, the pandemic was responsible for launching Brazil more quickly towards a technological future.

“Our president was already digital and we are the fourth largest digital market in the world. There are more iPhones in Brazil than the population. Brazilians have one, two iPhones, sometimes.”

Despite the minister stating, without data, that Brazil is already a nation of ‘digital depth’, the country still has unequal access to the internet, for example. In December 2021, the sheet showed that 55 million Brazilians go a week without internet every month.

According to data from Instituto Locomotiva and Idec (Institute for Consumer Protection), 45% of the poorest users (class C, D and E) have mobile phone plans that run out before the end of the month.

Paulo Guedes also said that, in addition to the pandemic, the war in Ukraine forced Brazilian society to technological progress. With the crisis involving the shortage of fertilizers imported from Russia, the government anticipated the launch of the National Fertilizer Plan.

“We are working on the matrix to deepen the production chain towards fertilizers. What this war does is also throw us more quickly towards the future.”

Currently, Brazil is the fourth largest consumer of fertilizers in the world, behind China, India and the United States, and the world’s largest importer of these inputs. Russia alone accounts for 23% of Brazilian imports of fertilizers, which totaled US$ 15.2 billion (R$ 78.4 billion) last year.

The National Fertilizer Plan aims to expand the exploitation of inputs in local mines and increase the production of fertilizers in national factories to reduce international dependence, based on changes in the regulatory and tax framework, as well as the granting of subsidies and public financing.