With all of the media attention on Europe and Asia, there is not enough emphasize on what’s going on in Latin America — a continent with nearly 500 million people.
So, consider this, from Nielsen:
“Mirroring consumer confidence declines seen around the world, sentiment in the Latin America region decreased three index points to a score of 88 in the fourth quarter [of 2014], as scores fell in five of the seven countries measured. Peru was the only country in the region where confidence improved and remained above the 100-score optimism baseline, rising four points to 101. Peru’s latest reading outperformed Brazil’s score, which dropped six points to 95, for the first time since 2011. Similarly, Mexico (85) decreased three points, Colombia (94) and Chile (81) decreased four points each, and Argentina (67) dropped one point. Venezuela’s score (70) was flat from the previous quarter.”
“There were few silver linings to be found in the region, as the outlook for job prospects declined in three of seven Latin American countries, and perceptions of personal finances fell in all countries except Peru. Furthermore, recessionary sentiment worsened by seven percentage points in both Brazil (73%) and Chile (59%)—the highest levels since Nielsen started tracking this sentiment in 2008.”
There is a weak state of Consumer in Brazil due to the high prices of gas, oil and energy and corruption scandals at Petrobras and also a talk about Impeachment of the President in 2015.
I’m sure the exploitation of resources by private corporations in the amazon region is not the greatest thing for the health of consumer confidence. Corporation’s harmful actions give them a bad reputation in the eyes of the consumer.
When watching the news, you will always see the latest stories of events that happen here in the U.S, Europe, and Asia. Rarely do you ever see what happening in the Latin American countries. I’ve never actually thought about this till reading this article, and now that I have read it, I definitely realize this is true. Lots of this countries are not doing well economically, and maybe one of the reasons is that the world doesn’t know about it. If more people knew, maybe these countries would get more assistance and convince of it citizens would increase.
What these South American countries need are recognition and attention. Like the user above me, I had no awareness of this issue until reading this post on your blog, Professor Evans, (P.S hope you are doing well after your operation and are in high spirits)! It would be great if more countries who are benefiting economically could help raise awareness to the decrease in consumer confidence in South America, in hopes to create a more balanced, satisfying consumer network around the world.