Business confidence in Brazil drops for the fourth consecutive month, says CNI

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – For the fourth consecutive month, the confidence of Brazilian industrial business people has dropped, according to the Industrial Business Confidence Index (Icei). According to the survey released today, April 14th, by the National Confederation of Industry (CNI), a drop of 0.7 points was recorded in the index for April, compared to March.

According to CNI, the April Icei stood at 53.7 points. In March, the index was at 54.4 points. In April 2020, when the index reflected more intensely the pandemic’s effects in the industry, the ICEI was at 34.5 points.

Despite being the fourth consecutive month of decline in business confidence, the index remains above 50 points – on a scale of 100 points -, a level that separates confidence and lack of confidence of companies in the Brazilian economy.

Year-to-date, the drop reaches 9.4 points, CNI adds. “There is a more negative view in relation to the current moment. The expectations of businessmen for the next six months even improved moderately, but only partially recovered the worsening of the previous month,” said, in a statement, the manager of Economic Analysis of CNI, Marcelo Azevedo.

Current Condition and Expectations

According to CNI, the Current Conditions Index dropped 4 points, from 48.9 points to 44.9 points. With the indicator below 50 points, the result indicates the perception that “the worsening of the current state of the Brazilian economy and companies is more intense and widespread among businessmen.

Despite a more negative assessment of current conditions, industry entrepreneurs “show greater optimism in relation to the next six months”, with a 0.9 percentage point increase in the Expectations Index, which went from 57.2 points to 58.1 points.

This expectation index had dropped 5.4 points from February to March. “That is, there is an improvement in optimism, but it had not resumed the level registered between August 2020 and February 2021, when it exceeded 60 points,” adds CNI.

Source: Agência Brasil