While national average has receded, the retail trade in AM rises 0.6%, but leaves traders worried

Nauzila Campos – Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – The volume of retail sales in Brazil suffered a setback of 0.1% in the month of October. Nationally, this is the third consecutive fall – with a quarterly loss of 1.8%. The data are from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), which, for the Amazon, on the other hand, announced a positive balance, albeit timid: after four months of decline, retail trade grew 0.6% in October in the same comparison with September 2021.

With the figures of the Monthly Trade Survey (PMC), released this Wednesday, 8, the slight rise for retail in the last quarter of 2021 in Amazonas is tracked by IBGE according to the graph below. Between February and March of this year, there was an expressive growth in the sector’s sales; after that, a fall. However, even in the face of these negative results, in the average of the last twelve months (October 2020 to October 2021), retail sales in Amazonas still show a positive total balance (1.2%).

Nationally, in the year accumulated in 12 months, the retail trade also presents highs of 2.6%.

But it is still not possible to breathe economically relieved – neither in the state, nor in the country. According to the head of the IBGE in Amazonas, José Ilcleson Mendes Coelho, if the Amazon numbers close in decline in the annual performance, the negative balance of the PMC will be the first since 2016 – and this possibility is real. “Generally, the months of November and December have good sales because of the holidays. However, the quarterly moving average is negative. And we must wait for the next results to verify the closing of 2021”.

The merchant Angela Maria, owner of a distributor in Manaus, does not have good expectations for the last days of December. “It fell too much. My expectation is zero. I acquired many debts. I’m a very optimistic person, but I don’t know how to get out of these debts”.