Neoliberal changes and perspectives for financialization in the management of Brazil’s water and sanitation services

Abstract

Over the past three decades, water services in many countries have been transformed by the growing influence of and reliance on private finance, through processes of financialization, commodification, marketization and privatization. This paper examines how financialization has become embedded in the provision of water in Brazil. The privatisation of water and sanitation services was first introduced as a national police in 1995, but only few contracts were signed. Within a new neoliberal policy context of Bolsonaro’s government Brazil’s water supply sector has undergone significant changes, facilitated and enacted within a new national legal framework, from 2020, which establishes greater incentives for private sector participation in water service provision and reduces financial support for public services. Furthermore, the National Bank for Social and Economic Development (BNDES) which plays a significant role in Brazil’s economy, being responsible for long-term financing and investment in various sectors, has organized ‘concession’ projects, that combines different geographical areas into ‘concession blocks’ in a strategy that aims to combine wealthier regions with those that severely lack services, aiming to make the latter more attractive to the private sector. There was a major acceleration in privatization. The paper analyses these on-going processes through the lens of a detailed case study of the water and sanitation privatization process in Rio de Janeiro state. The analyse reveals two main features of the changes currently taking place in the water supply sector: a shift in the private companies shareholding structure, including a strong participation of financial capital and the importance of national government policies and actors in shaping this new financialization process.