Aécio Amado
Reporter Agência Brasil

Rio - Brazilian consumer confidence has fallen for the third consecutive month, reports the Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV) in its latest (21st) survey. FGV interviewed 1,438 household heads between August 1 and 22 in the country's 12 main capital cities.

The number of respondents who said they thought things were going to improve fell from 52.1% in July to 46.7% in August. And, at the other end of the scale, those who expected things to get worse rose from 6.2% to 7%.

Respondents cited reduced economic growth and the political crisis as the main reasons their confidence was lower.

As a matter of fact, the survey found respondents said everything was lower - except their level of indebtedness. However, the percentage of those who said they were indebted actually fell from July to August, going from 30.4% to 28.3%. The percentage of respondents who said they had money left over remained stable at 12.3%, but that is the lowest level since October 2002.

The FGV consumer confidence survey was quarterly until July 2004, when it became monthly.

Translator: Allen Bennett