The annual Consumer Indebtedness and Default Survey (Peic) shows that the profile of the indebted person in Brazil is a woman, under 35 years old and incomplete high school, living in the South or Southeast regions, whose family earns up to ten minimum wages . The survey was released today (19) by the National Confederation of Trade in Goods, Services and Tourism (CNC).
In the historical series, started in 2011, the year broke a record: 77.9% of families were indebted in 2022, an increase of 7 percentage points compared to 2021 and 14.3 compared to 2019, before the covid-19 pandemic. 19. The lowest rate was recorded in 2018, when 60.3% of families were in debt.
CNC president José Roberto Tadros pointed out that the pandemic reversed the downward trend in indebtedness that was registered until 2019, especially among the poorest. According to him, the “perverse effects” of the pandemic, with the closing of businesses and the increase in the number of unemployed, and in the post-pandemic, the advance of inflation, meant that families with lower incomes needed to resort to credit for maintenance. of basic consumption.
“While among families with higher incomes, it was the resumption of repressed consumption that led to greater debt contracts. These factors led to an increase in the number of debtors in 2022 in the country,” said Tadros.
over-indebtedness record
The annual Peic indicated that, of the total indebtedness, 17.6% considered themselves very indebted, the highest proportion of the historical series. For every ten families with the lowest income, two committed more than half of their monthly income to paying off debts. Among those with higher salaries, the index drops by half, which suggests that over-indebtedness is concentrated among the poorest.
“On average, during 2022, Brazilians spent, for every BRL 1,000, BRL 302 on debt. In total, 70% of families committed at least 10% of their income to this purpose. More than 1/5 of those in debt had to spend at least half of their salary to pay off debts”, says the CNC.
The director of Economy and Innovation at the CNC, Guilherme Mercês, stated that it is important that measures are adopted that allow a reduction in interest rates and inflation, with a new fiscal anchor for the management of public accounts.
“In over ten years, people have never felt so indebted, and what Peic demonstrates is that over-indebtedness is primarily a problem for low-income families. If this indebtedness concerns the cost of credits and inflation, one of the essential factors to solve this is to have a Brazilian economy with more civilized interest rates, because high interest rates are synonymous with expensive debts, always”, said Mercês, during a press conference press in Rio de Janeiro.
For the director, debt renegotiation programs such as those being announced by the federal government are fundamental and “stop the anguish of people and families”. “But, in structural terms, what will solve this problem is a lower interest rate”, he pointed out.
