Rio de Janeiro – The National Federation for Trade in Goods, Services and Tourism (CNC) revised up from 1.2% to 1.6% its growth forecast for retail sales for this year. The review was done after May’s results of the Monthly Survey of Trade (PMC), which was made available this Wednesday (12) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). According to the survey, revenues of the extended retail (which also includes construction material, vehicles and auto parts) increased 4.5% in comparison to May of last year. This was the best result since March 2015, when retail revenues went up 5%.
According to economist Fabio Bentes, from CNC, the sector’s sustainable recovery is still broadly depending on the improvement of unemployment rates and of interest rates that are more compatible to the recent inflation rate curve. “If these expectations are confirmed, the sector would, at last, resume growth after three years of downturn when the monthly sales rate declined to early-2010 levels,” he said.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
