RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's industry confidence reached 114.5 points in December, marking a peak in six months, the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) announced Tuesday.
$ {) F, O* P$ R/ d# b( N The country's Industry Confidence Index (ICI) made a turnaround after the November figures fell to the lowest level in a year.
9 X# w5 J2 G( ] According to the FGV, the increase registered in December could be attributed to the industrialists' optimism about Brazil's economic prospect.' n& M5 A k, p+ T7 s% T
The Present Situation Index (ISA), which measures the confidence in Brazil's current economic situation, was up 1.3 percent to 116.2 points in December, the highest since April.
0 O( Z7 ~/ d6 z) K The Expectations Index (IE), which measures the industrialists' expectations for the next six months, reached 112.8 points in December, up 1.9 percent from November.6 m+ w$ q1 ~) q( i
According to the FGV, 31 percent of industries planned to hire more employees in 2011, while 5.7 percent planned to cut staff.$ V) H$ a+ I7 t5 B# c, X" d
A total of 31.6 percent considered the current demand level good, while 4.7 percent held the opposite opinion.
! M2 j# I1 x( Z- e0 [ The ICI survey, carried out between Dec. 2 and Dec. 23, involved 1,196 companies across Brazil, whose combined profits reached 625.9 billion reais (388 billion U.S. dollars) last year |