São Paulo, 7/22/2004 (Agência Brasil) - A survey by the São Paulo Commercial Federation (Fecomércio-SP) and the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) has found that there was a rise in the consumer confidence index (ICC),which went from 117.7 in June to 118.7 in July. A total of 59.3% of those interviewed by the survey said they were optimistic.

The survey found that the more money people make, the more optimistic they tend to be. People with salaries of less than US$858 reached 85.9 on the ICC. People who made more than US$858 reached 123.7 on the ICC scale. However, compared to June, there was a rise of almost 9 points in the optimism of lower paid workers, while the optimism index of better paid workers fell slightly.

According to Fecomércio-SP, the results show that consumers feel safer about medium-term economic growth, probably based on news of lower rates of unemployment. Even so, there was a slight downturn in long-term optimism (it went from 132.9 to 132.4).

Agência Brasil
Reporter: Liésio Pereira
Translator: Allen Bennett
07/22/2004