Brasília – Although they remain optimistic, industrial sector entrepreneurs in Brazil are less confident about the country’s economy. The Industrial Businessmen Confidence Index (Icei, in the Portuguese acronym), disclosed this Monday (22nd) by the National Federation of Industries (CNI), has dropped down to 62 points in November, a decline of 0.8 point compared with October and of 6.7 points over January, when the indicator reached a record.
Despite the decline, the index remains higher than the historical average of 59.6 points, proving that businessmen remain more optimistic than usual. According to the CNI, indicators higher than 50 points represent confidence in the economy.
The sector responsible for the index’s decline was the processing industry, in which the rate of confidence dropped by 1.4 this month. In the remaining sectors surveyed, confidence has increased. The indicator for the extraction industry has gone up 1.9 point, and the civil construction industry indicator rose by 0.6 point.
According to the CNI, out of the 26 processing industry segments surveyed, 18 had indicators above the historical average, pointing to heightened optimism. The highest degrees of confidence were recorded in transport equipment, plastic, non-metallic minerals, editing and printing, shoes, furniture, and clothing and accessories. Basic metallurgy, wood and various industries had the lowest indices.
The survey includes the assessment of industrialists regarding the country’s economic performance and their expectations for the domestic scenario and their own companies in the coming six months. The survey was conducted from October 29th to November 19th among 1,897 enterprises, of which 1,028 were small, 591 were medium and 278 were large.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
