[2020-12-31] Confidence in Brazilian service sector rises in December

Source: Macauhub

The results of a regular survey indicate that confidence in the Brazilian service sector rose this month for the first time in three months, but is still lower than in February, before the COVID-19 virus spread to Brazil, Reuters says.

The news agency says the index of confidence in the service sector compiled by the Getulio Vargas Foundation rose to 86.2 points this month, 0.8 point more than last month, having fallen in the preceding two months.

The report says the index stood at 94.4 points in February.

An economist for the foundation, Rodolpho Tobler, advises caution about the seemingly favourable rise in the index because, he says, Brazilian consumers still fear that the number of COVID-19 cases may increase, the report says.

“The outlook for the coming months is for the recovery to continue, but there is still a long way to go to get back to the pre-pandemic level,” Reuters quotes Mr Tobler as saying.