Brasília – Brazilian industry confidence has improved, yet the indicator remains at a low level, according to the Industrial Businessman Confidence Index (Icei, in the Portuguese acronym), which rose from 49.9 points in July to 52.5 points in August. The information was released this Friday (16th) by the National Confederation of Industry (CNI, in the Portuguese acronym). The Icei ranges from 0 to 100, and scores higher than 50 indicate confidence among businessmen.
According to the CNI, the 2.6 point increase “is important for the economy to rebound, but it is worth mentioning that industrialists’ confidence levels remain significantly low.” The August results are the second lowest since the 2008 crisis, exceeding only those of July. According to the indicator, businessmen still perceive a worsening of the economic scenario in Brazil, and of the status of their own companies, compared with the past six months.
The increased confidence was seen across all business sizes, but the highest increase took place among large businesses, whose score went from 50.4 to 53.2 points. The confidence indicator for medium-sized businesses went from 49.1 to 51.7 points, and the indicator for small businesses rose from 49.9 to 52.1 points, in August from July. The data was collected from the 1st to the 13th this month, among 2,513 companies, of which 901 were small, 988 medium and 644 large companies.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
