Brazil: credit becomes more difficult, and household consumption loses steam 

Household Consumption Intentions (ICF) of the National Confederation of Trade of Goods, Services, and Tourism (CNC) rose almost 1% from February to March, to 95.7 points.

Access to credit is the main obstacle for families.

In a statement, the entity informed that, with the increase, the ICF reached the highest level since March 2020.

Although it has maintained an upward trend, the entity detailed that the advance was the least significant in a year and that the consumption intention has remained below the positive assessment zone (100 points) since 2015.

Six of the seven topics used to calculate the indicator from February to March showed an increase.

This is the case of current employment (0.6%); income (1.7%); level of consumption (2.3%); professional perspective (0.7%); consumption perspective (3.2%); and moment for durable goods (3.1%).

In this comparison, the only one to present a decline was access to credit (-0.8%).

In comparison with March 2022, there were increases in all comparisons.

For the CNC, in March, it was “increasing the proportion of consumers pointing to greater difficulty in accessing credit”, with almost 40% of families indicating this in the interviews.

“Credit is more expensive and selective, especially for lower-income consumers, and has led more and more families to rethink long-term purchases,” said Izis Ferreira, the CNC economist responsible for the study, in the statement.

CONSUMPTION INTENTIONS

The CNC also released a cut of consumption intention per income, and, on this topic, it is visible the lesser breath of consumption among those with lower purchasing power in March.

Among those earning up to ten minimum wages a month, the ICF rose almost 1% this month compared to February.

With information from Revista Oeste