Business leaders' perceptions on economic crisis improve
Optimism about the coming months has grown among business leaders in trade and services. According to a survey conducted by the Brazilian Credit Reporting Bureau (SPC Brasil) and the National Confederation of Shopkeepers (CNDL), the percentage of business entrepreneurs that find the economic crisis “very serious” dropped from 60.2% in April to 39.5% in August. For 47.9%, the second half of 2016 will be better than the first, while 6.8% believe it will be worse, compared to 39.5% in April.
According to the survey, businesses are taking various steps to stay in the market amid the crisis. The main one is cost efficiencies, adopted by 38%—less than the 45.1% found in April. Next are price reductions (17.3%) and job cuts (10.1%).
In the businesses' perception, the most significant economic impact of the political crisis was the rise in unemployment (65.8%), followed by tax hikes (50.5%), and declining sales (45.7%). The percentage of those mentioning those last two effects fell compared to April, when they stood at 63.6% and 59.2% respectively.
Recovery
According to business leaders, the main measures to be taken to revive growth in Brazil are tax reduction (42.7%), anti-corruption efforts (42.7%) and inflation control (39,1%).
The SPC Brasil-CNDL survey also found that the entrepreneurs' main concern is the persistence of the crisis in 2017. However, the percentage of them who have this concern has dropped compared to the survey in April, going from 41.1% to 33.5%.
The survey heard 822 leaders of business of all sizes in the trade and services sector in the 27 state capitals and other, non-capital cities of the country.
Translated by Mayra Borges
Fonte: Business leaders' perceptions on economic crisis improve
