Terraform authentication not working with TF_VAR_

GitLab CI/CD
1

Hello

Here is my provider config:

variable "provider_development_json" {
  type        = string
  description = "Input variable from environment for development provider configuration"
}

provider "google" {
  credentials = var.provider_development_json
  project     = "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
  region      = "us-central1"
  alias       = "myalias"
}

When im exporting such variable locally:

export TF_VAR_provider_development_json=/home/user/Downloads/myenv.json

It is working when im staring it on my local machine.

Problem is when i will start it with below CI/CD configuration and “File” variable for project set up with name: TF_VAR_provider_development_json im getting such error:

Error: Error creating Service: googleapi: Error 403: Permission 'run.services.create' denied on resource 'namespaces/XXXXXXXXX/services/application' (or resource may not exist).

default:
  image:
    name: hashicorp/terraform:light
    entrypoint:
      - '/usr/bin/env'
      - 'PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin'

cache:
  key: "$CI_BUILD_REF_NAME"
  untracked: true
  paths:
    - .terraform


variables:
  GIT_CLEAN_FLAGS: -x -f -e terraform.out

stages:
  - prep
  - check
  - changes
  - execute

init:
  stage: prep
  script:
    - echo $TF_VAR_provider_development_json
    - terraform init

validate:
  stage: check
  script:
    - terraform validate

plan:
  stage: changes
  script:
    - terraform plan -out=terraform.out

apply:
  stage: execute
  script:
    - echo $TF_VAR_provider_development_json
    - cat $TF_VAR_provider_development_json
    - terraform apply terraform.out
  when: manual

in last step first and second line is checking this variable and it looks its showing proper path to file with proper content. why in gitlab CI/CD its doesnt work like on local machine?