Retail sales in Brazil grew slightly in June despite massive protests on-going in the entire country that month. Sales grew by 0.5% compared to May's data, according to the Government's statistics service IBGE.
The growth was expected to reach 0.65%, according to the average of the prospects from 22 economic analysts, with predictions oscillating between a 0.2% drop and a 1.8% growth.
Nevertheless, the data showed that supermarket sales dropped for the fourth time in five months, given the recent increase in food prices.
A record household debt and the fragile economic context had a toll on confidence among consumers; a situation only made worse by the recent protests.
Over a million Brazilians took the streets in June to protest against the high cost of living and the poor quality of public services, such as transport, education and healthcare.
The protests in many cities were mostly pacific, although there were also instances of pillage and clashes with the police which forced businesses to close their doors.
Some national chains informed that June's protests affected their income that month. Some have reported signs of recovery in July, as consumers started making postponed purchases.
Sales volumes over the first half of 2013 increased by merely 0.6% compared with the first semester of 2012.
Over the past year, tax incentives offered on refrigerators, ovens and washing machines manufactured locally have contributed to improve retailer sales, but Dilma Rousseff's Government has started eliminating those incentives to focus on fiscal discipline once again.
Economists have also expressed their concern over the effectiveness of such specific measures, which have not resulted in the strong economic recovery that was promised.
As for the inter-annual growth rate, retail sales in June increased by 1.7%, which is lower than the average prediction of 2.2%, which resulted from analyst forecasts oscillating between 0.5 and 3.3%.
The growth was expected to reach 0.65%, according to the average of the prospects from 22 economic analysts, with predictions oscillating between a 0.2% drop and a 1.8% growth.
Nevertheless, the data showed that supermarket sales dropped for the fourth time in five months, given the recent increase in food prices.
A record household debt and the fragile economic context had a toll on confidence among consumers; a situation only made worse by the recent protests.
Over a million Brazilians took the streets in June to protest against the high cost of living and the poor quality of public services, such as transport, education and healthcare.
The protests in many cities were mostly pacific, although there were also instances of pillage and clashes with the police which forced businesses to close their doors.
Some national chains informed that June's protests affected their income that month. Some have reported signs of recovery in July, as consumers started making postponed purchases.
Sales volumes over the first half of 2013 increased by merely 0.6% compared with the first semester of 2012.
Over the past year, tax incentives offered on refrigerators, ovens and washing machines manufactured locally have contributed to improve retailer sales, but Dilma Rousseff's Government has started eliminating those incentives to focus on fiscal discipline once again.
Economists have also expressed their concern over the effectiveness of such specific measures, which have not resulted in the strong economic recovery that was promised.
As for the inter-annual growth rate, retail sales in June increased by 1.7%, which is lower than the average prediction of 2.2%, which resulted from analyst forecasts oscillating between 0.5 and 3.3%.
