Brazil: Consumer confidence edges up in September

Consumer confidence continued to improve in September, reaching the highest level since January 2015. The consumer confidence index published by the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV, Fundaçao Getúlio Vargas) rose a seasonally-adjusted 1.6% over the previous month, which followed the 3.4% increase recorded in August. This boosted the index from 79.3 points to 80.6 points. The improvement was driven by consumers’ relatively less pessimistic views regarding the future economic situation compared to the previous month.

The FGV confidence index spans a range from 1 to 200 points, where 100 points is considered neutral. Despite continued gains seen over the past months, consumer confidence remains firmly within pessimistic territory.

Panelists surveyed for this month’s LatinFocus report expect private consumption to fall 4.4% in 2016, which is up 0.1 percentage points from last month’s forecast. For 2017, panelists expect private consumption to rise 0.4%.