In March, the ICEI index that measures the confidence that Brazilian entrepreneurs ascribe to the country’s economy, declined among all sizes of companies (small, medium and large), and in most of the country’s region, with the exception of the southern region.
But when considering the sector of the activity, entrepreneurs from 17 of the sectors have shown optimism, while the other 12 have shown pessimism.
The higher level of confidence was found among the sectors of electric machinery and materials (54.4), cleaning products (54.0), other products (53.1) and maintenance and repair of machinery and equipment (53.1).
The metallurgy sector, which includes steel production, reached 53.0 points in the research. The lowest level of confidence was found among rubber products (42.1), furniture (43.7), wood products (45.2) and non-metallic mineral products (45.4).
The ICEI index varies from 0 to 100 points. Numbers above 50 indicate confidence by the entrepreneurs, while below 50 indicate lack of confidence. The research was developed between March 1-9, covering representatives of 1,991 companies.