CNC: Consumption intention of Brazilian families is the highest since May 2020

Despite still being below 100 points, a level considered satisfactory, the Family Consumption Intention (ICF) for March this year reached its highest level since May 2020 and reached 78.1 points.

This is also the third consecutive monthly increase.

The index grew by 1.8% over the last month, and by 5.9% in annual terms. The results were presented by the National Confederation of Trade in Goods, Services and Tourism (CNC), on the morning of this Wednesday (23).

According to the Confederation, the main positive factor for the increase in the ICF was Current Employment, that is, the labor market indicator, which reached a level of 102 points.

The perception of improvement in the income of these families reached the third consecutive increase. Access to credit was also another positive factor that contributed to this index.

“The constant increase in the Selic, carried out by the Central Bank as a way of controlling inflation, has made credit more expensive and has made it difficult to access in recent months”, explained the CNC in the published survey.

“However, with a more balanced income and greater confidence in maintaining employment, Access to Credit had its second consecutive increase in March, with an even higher rate than in February and corroborating the improvement in consumers’ perception of term purchases.”

According to CNC, despite the positive perceptions in relation to Access to Credit and Current Income, there was a 1.2% drop in the Consumption Perspective.

According to CNC economist Catarina Carneiro, “the external scenario with the war in Ukraine and the internal challenges with high inflation made consumers cautious in their consumption expectations for the coming months”.

In the regional analysis, there was no index with a monthly decrease. The Southeast had the highest positive change (2.1%), while the Central-West had the lowest (0.7%).

However, families in the South region were the ones with the most intention to consume in March, with an index of 88.4% and those in the North had the lowest index (58.8%).