Brasília – The Industrialist Confidence Index (Icei) was up 0.5 to 57.4 points in July from June, in its second straight month-on-month increment. The indicator is currently 2.9 points higher than the 54.5-point all-time average. The numbers are from a survey made public by the National Confederation of Industry (CNI) this Thursday (18). The Icei ranges from 0 to 100, with scores higher than 50 showing confidence.
According to the survey, optimism from industrial business owners has increased as a result of an improved outlook regarding economic and business performance over the next six months. The expectations index went from 61.7 points in June to 62.1 points in July. “Expectations regarding Brazil’s economy were up 1 point over June,” CNI Economic Policy executive manager Flávio Castelo Branco said.
According to him, this improvement “could be tied to the likelihood of the Social Security reform being passed. The survey was done in the first ten months of July, at which point the reform was about to be voted on, and its moving forward was considered highly probable.” The draft reform was approved July 10, and the survey ran from the 1st to the 11th.
Perception of the current business and economic scenario worsened, going from 47.6 points in June to 47 points in July. The score remains lower than 50 points, an indication of lack of confidence.
The Icei survey had 2,391 corporate respondents, being 942 small, 904 medium and 545 large businesses.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum