An Analysis of the Budgetary Performance of the Brazilian Ministry for Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI) and the Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic, in the Period from 2007 to 2022

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the changes in budgetary performance of the currently named Ministry for Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI)1 during the implementation of Science, Technology and Innovation Policies (ST&IP) between the years 2007 and 2022. The reason for choosing the MCTI as the body for analysis is due to the representativeness of the resources it allocates to the fields of ST&I and because it is responsible for the formulating of public policies directed to those areas. From a methodological perspective, the paper was essentially based on the collection and analysis of data and records contained within the official public planning and budgeting systems and specifically reports on the MCTI budgetary performance, its thematic budgetary function and typical subfunctions. The results indicate the difference between “planned” and “executed” budget; a decrease in public investments in ST&I over the period analysed, due to reductions in the volume of budgetary resources allocated to the MCTI; the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and restrictions on spending imposed by the government, in contrast to the linear supply concept seen in the most recently implemented ST&I.