Consumer confidence hits highest level since February 2019

The increase in confidence was driven by the advancement of the Expectations Index (IE), which rose 3.6 points, as well as the improvement in the Current Situation Index (ISA), which rose 4.4 points, reaching the highest level since 2020, the beginning of from Covid-19.

The Expectations Index is an index that measures what consumers expect from the future of the economy. The Current Situation Index (ISA), as the name suggests, measures the consumer’s assessment of the present time.

Among the items that make up the Consumer Confidence Index (ICC), the indicator that measures the intention to purchase durable goods was the one that most influenced the improvement in the index, with an increase of 11.7 points.

In the same sense, the indicator that measures the degree of optimism with the local economic situation increased for the second consecutive month, by 2.3 points.

The indicator that makes up the expectation index that retreated was the one that measures the perspectives on family finances in the coming months. This had a drop of 4.0 points and contributed to the retreat of optimism. However, the indicator that measures evaluations on family finances at the present time rose by 5.0 points, after two consecutive declines.

With regard to the index by income range, there is an absolute improvement in all of them, from the income range up to R$ 2,100 reais, to the income range above R$ 9,600. However, confidence is greater for consumers with greater purchasing power. The advance in the confidence of consumers with lower purchasing power was smaller this month, after a significant increase in the previous month.

A specialist from the FGV summarizes that the improvement in consumer confidence happens both by improving the perception of the current situation and by improving future expectations of the economy, among all income groups.