SAO PAULO--Brazil's main consumer confidence index dropped in May due to continued concerns with inflation pressures and signs of slowdown of the labor market, the private Vargas Getulio Foundation, or FGV, said Friday.
FGV said its consumer confidence index ended May at 113.4 points, down from 113.9 points saw in April. The index has a 1-to-200-point range, with 100 considered an indicator of neutral sentiment.
Brazil's annual inflation is running perilously close to the ceiling of the government-set inflation range for 2013 of 2.5% to 6.5%.
Brazil's official IPCA consumer price index is at 6.46%. In the meantime, country's unemployment rate climbed for a fourth-consecutive month in April and local wages continued to retreat as tight labor markets in Latin America's largest economy continued easing.
Unemployment was 5.8% in April compared with 5.7% in March, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, or IBGE, said Thursday.
April's unemployment data indicated that pressures in Brazil's labor market, which have been a key driver of inflation in the service sector, continued to soften amid sluggish economic growth.
Despite the recent upswing, the country's unemployment rate still remains at historically low levels and below the rate economists consider neutral for inflation.
The consumer confidence index polls 2,000 families in Brazil's seven largest cities. It measures the willingness of families to make purchases of various types of consumer goods and gauges expectations about employment, income and economic opportunities.
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FGV said its consumer confidence index ended May at 113.4 points, down from 113.9 points saw in April. The index has a 1-to-200-point range, with 100 considered an indicator of neutral sentiment.
Brazil's annual inflation is running perilously close to the ceiling of the government-set inflation range for 2013 of 2.5% to 6.5%.
Brazil's official IPCA consumer price index is at 6.46%. In the meantime, country's unemployment rate climbed for a fourth-consecutive month in April and local wages continued to retreat as tight labor markets in Latin America's largest economy continued easing.
Unemployment was 5.8% in April compared with 5.7% in March, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, or IBGE, said Thursday.
April's unemployment data indicated that pressures in Brazil's labor market, which have been a key driver of inflation in the service sector, continued to soften amid sluggish economic growth.
Despite the recent upswing, the country's unemployment rate still remains at historically low levels and below the rate economists consider neutral for inflation.
The consumer confidence index polls 2,000 families in Brazil's seven largest cities. It measures the willingness of families to make purchases of various types of consumer goods and gauges expectations about employment, income and economic opportunities.
nasdaq.com
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