August Has Arrived! Check Out What Events This Month Will Shake Up The Economy And Industry

Today, August 01, a new month begins and extremely important events for the economy and industry are expected to occur, affecting the whole industry and consumers’ pockets.

The month of August has arrived and, with it, we will have new events that are expected to shake the entire economy and industry. With this in mind, CPG has prepared a list of the main ones.

Selic Will Be Raised After New Meeting with the COPOM

The Selic rate, which determines Brazil’s basic interest rates, will be raised after the new meeting with the COPOM scheduled for this month of August. Therefore, it is estimated that rates will rise from 13.25% to around 13.75%.

What does this change in practice? The Central Bank of Brazil has been making constant variations to the Selic in order to contain inflation and increase the purchasing power of Brazilians. It’s also the ideal time to invest in both fixed income and Treasury Direct, as they are among the most profitable alternatives, even outperforming some stocks in the stock market.

The increase in interest rates in a context of high inflation makes Brazilians tempted to save money to invest and, thus, withdraw a part of what is in circulation.

Gasoline Begins to Be Sold at a Lower Price, Showing That the Month May Be Promising for Traditional Consumers. However, Diesel Continues Flirting with R$ 8

This Monday, August 01, the state of Santa Catarina (SC) already has gasoline offered at around R$ 5.40. Despite this, diesel is still being resold by stations at nearly R$ 8, which can be detrimental to the transport and logistics sector, which has already stated that they have a 10% loss in revenue since they are not passing these price variations to final consumers.

The variations come after Petrobras announced it would reduce refinery prices by up to 15 cents last month. Another aspect that deeply influences fuel prices is the ICMS rates of the states. The governor of Santa Catarina, Carlos Moisés, for example, approved a project that will allow this rate to be reduced to 17%.

The reduction of ICMS follows Jair Bolsonaro’s approval of a project that will allow this reduction through a federal transfer to states to compensate for the lack of taxes.

Dollar Fell from R$ 5.50 to R$ 5.18 in a Matter of Days and May Return to R$ 5.10

The dollar, which is one of the main influencers of the prices of gasoline, diesel, and ethanol, fell from R$ 5.50 to around R$ 5.18 in the last trading session on Friday, July 29. One of the reasons that caused the U.S. currency to decline was precisely the possibility of a new increase in Selic, which makes Treasury Direct and investments in Brazil more attractive.

According to Valor Econômico, external scenarios, with the stagnation of the U.S. economy after the Covid-19 crisis, lead the U.S. dollar to present negative variations and be devalued. The euro is also experiencing a significant decline. The expectation is that on Monday, August 01, the dollar will continue to fall, which will exponentially impact fuel production.

Promotions in Brazilian Mining in August

The federal government has been approving a series of laws that incentivize mining in the state of Minas Gerais (MG) and could create more than 7,000 job openings. One of the projects will allow simplified and non-bureaucratic exports of companies to abroad.