Household consumption intention reaches highest level in 21 months, says CNC

Brazilian families started the year 2022 with the intention of consuming more. This is what data from the National Confederation of Commerce in Goods, Services and Tourism (CNC) show, released this Friday (18).

The numbers point to a growth of 0.4% in February, confirming the positive trend registered in January. This month, the best since May 2020, the indicator reached 77.6 points.

The second consecutive increase in the Intention of Consumption of Households (ICF) survey was influenced, in particular, by the criteria linked to workers’ income and purchases on installments.

In the assessment of current income, about 27% of families consider that they earn more now than in 2021. According to the interviewees, access to credit has also become easier. After four months of decline, the item had its first growth: 0.7%.

Despite the favorable performance, in individual considerations, there were setbacks compared to the results of January.

Altogether, of the seven topics used as a basis for the study’s calculations, five showed declines: current employment (-0.5%), current income (-0.4%), current consumption (-0.5%), professional (-0.5%) and consumption perspective (-0.1%). Only access to credit (0.5%) and time for durables (0.4%) rose at the end of the month.

“The indicator continued to outperform its previous results, being better than in February of last year. However, this increase was in a smaller proportion than in January, demonstrating that the uncertainties for this year are making families more cautious when consuming”, pointed out the research. In February 2021, the index was 74.2 points.

The ICF works as a preview of consumption expectations in the country, through the perspectives of families. When the indicator is below 100 points, the CNC classifies that there is an unsatisfactory scenario on the part of the population.

The survey has not recorded satisfaction levels, that is, above 100 points, since April 2015. The last time the country was in this situation, more than six years ago, the result was 102.9 points.

Thus, in the analysis by income bracket, families with earnings above 10 minimum wages showed a degree of dissatisfaction of 94.5 points. In the monthly comparison, the fall was 0.6%. In relation to the year, there was an increase of 10.5%.

Meanwhile, in households with income below 10 minimum wages, the indicator reached 74 points.

In this way, the confederation also registered dissatisfaction in this portion of consumers, since the numbers remain below 100 points. In the month, growth was 0.7%. In the annual comparison, the increase was 2.9%.

* Under supervision of Stéfano Salles