The Household Budget Survey (POF) 2017-2018, released today by IBGE, points out that Brazilians are investing less and paying more debt. According to the research, households have less budget space to buy assets such as real estate, land, and capitalization bonds, while they need to devote more of their income to reducing their debt and paying taxes.
The survey generally shows a significant shift in household spending priorities since the 1970s. At that time, Brazilians households stamped 16.5% of their spending on "asset growth." This group, it should be noted, does not include vehicle purchase expenses, which are accounted for under the heading “consumption expenses”.
According to the survey, average Brazilian household expenses amount to R$ 4,649.03 per month, of which only 4.1% was devoted to “asset increases” such as the acquisition of real estate, land, and securities. This is a smaller proportion than in previous versions of the survey, such as 2002-2003 (4.8%) and 2008-2009 (5.8%). This means, in practice, that Brazilians are saving less.
