Brazil stops using almost R$ 35 billion in science from 2010 to 2021, says study

Almost BRL 35 billion that should have been earmarked for science from 2010 to 2021 were “lost” in the federal budget, half of which was just in the first three years of the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL). Adjusted for inflation, the amount is currently equivalent to around R$ 45 billion.

The unprecedented calculation was presented by researcher Soraya Smaili, one of the creators of the Centro de Estudos SoU_Ciência, linked to Unifesp (Federal University of São Paulo), an institution she led, as dean, for eight years. The center is supported by the Serrapilheira Institute.

To arrive at the numbers, the researchers linked to the center were based on the amount collected and paid by the FNDCT (National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development) since 2010. Created by law in 1969, the FNDCT is the main public instrument for financing science, technology and innovation in Brazil, fed by a continuous flow of resources obtained through specific taxes.

This collection has increased in recent years. To give you an idea, BRL 2.9 billion were raised by the fund in 2010 and BRL 10.3 billion last year (in amounts without inflation adjustment). The problem is that the total transfer from the FNDCT to science decreased in the same period: it went from about R$2.7 billion in 2010 to R$1.4 billion in 2021 (without inflation adjustment).

Since 2010, according to data collected by scientists at Siop (Integrated Planning and Budgeting System), R$ 34.9 billion from the FNDCT have not been passed on to Brazilian science. Of these, R$ 17.7 billion were not transferred in the first three years of the Jair Bolsonaro government (2019 to 2021). “We don’t know exactly what happened to these features,” says Smaili.

Federal funding for science has also been slashed in other ways in recent years. According to data from the same Siop, in inflation-adjusted values, federal universities lost 45% of the amount allocated to so-called “other current expenses”, such as payment for water, energy and the provision of third-party services (such as security and cleaning), for example.

These cuts also affect student assistance grants for low-income students, which are considered essential for maintaining these students at the public university. The funds went from BRL 8.1 billion in 2019 to BRL 4.4 billion in 2022 (until September).

“Sou Ciência’s studies and surveys have shown a large drop in the resources of the 68 federal universities, especially between 2019 and 2022, harming laboratories, researchers and research infrastructure”, says Smaili.

At the same time that it suffered federal cuts, Brazilian science gained more trust from the population in the period. A survey released in March by the same Centro de Estudos SoU_Ciência, in partnership with Instituto Ideia Big Data, showed that Brazilians’ trust in scientists grew during the Covid pandemic.

This research showed that knowledge about scientific topics also increased. Almost half of the 1,252 respondents remembered the name of a Brazilian research institution. Instituto Butantan and Fiocruz were the most remembered (respectively by 40.1% and 22.5% of those who managed to cite institutions).

In the last national survey of public perception of science of this type, carried out by the CGEE (Center for Management and Strategic Studies)/MCTI, published in 2019, only 1 in 10 respondents could name a research institution or scientist.

For Smaili, the pandemic has brought science closer to the population in an unprecedented way, but the cuts in resources in scientific activities will make the academy “miss that tram”. “We have a window of opportunity to engage society through science. This campaign has to be constant.”

The data were presented by SoU_Ciência at a roundtable on scientific policy, which closed the event to commemorate the five years of Instituto Serrapilheira, in Rio de Janeiro.

In these five years, around R$ 60 million were invested in science and scientific dissemination by the institution – which is private. “It’s just a drop in the scientific ecosystem. Public funds are at the heart of support for science”, says Hugo Aguilaniu, president of the institute.

Other side

THE Sheet contacted the Ministries of Science and Education to comment on the reduction in transfers from the FNDCT and the Federal Budget to federal universities in the current government, but received no response until the publication of this report.

The advisors of the governments Luiz Lula da Silva (2003-2010) and Michel Temer (2016-2018) also did not comment on the transfers of the FNDCT in their respective terms of office.

The only one to respond, Dilma Rousseff’s government advisory (2011-2016) stated, in a note, that the relevance of the FNDCT was fully recognized in the two terms of President Lula, “which ensured growing resources for the fund and the total decontainment of its contributions , reducing to zero the rate levied on it, in 2010”.

“However, in the years that followed, a scenario of uncertainty, resulting from the 2008/2009 crisis, strong imbalances in the international financial system, the exchange rate war and the resurgence of protectionism, affected the Dilma Government’s collection goals”, stated in the note.

The note also highlights a methodological issue of the SoU_Ciência study in relation to the difference between financial investment and collection. “The concept of collection is related to tribute, CIDE, etc. This methodological issue generates a difference in relation to the values ​​collected.”