Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

    RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's economy is suffering from "a lack of confidence" as worldwide financial crisis spreads, though the Brazilian government remains optimistic, local media reported quoting the latest research results.

    According to Brazil's National Confederation of Industry (CNI) -- the country's most influential privately-run union, its three-month poll shows that the growth in production, employment and industrial capacity in July-September period this year failed to retain people's confidence in economy.

    "The problem is clearly financial, mainly for those big companies with problems to get credits," CNI chief economist Flavio Castelo Branco said in a report.

    The report, based on a poll made with 1,443 Brazilian companies from Sept. 30 to Oct. 20, said that the credit crunch and future uncertainties disheartened many businessmen, who predicted shrinking export and employment, and saw "the possibility of dismissals during the coming months."

    Meanwhile, the Consumer Trust Index, released in another report by private study center Getulio Vargas Foundation (GVF), dropped by 10 percent in October compared with September, and 10.1 percent compared with 2007, reaching its lowest level in two years.

    The index "has been influenced by the changes of consumers' perception on the economic situation," said the report.

    According to GVF's survey, those who had a negative perception in September accounted for 34.2 percent, and 48.2 percent in October.

    Other indicators include the external commerce account, which is also decreasing, a monthly report of the Central Bank said.

    During the first nine months in 2008, the surplus of the commercial balance was 19.638 billion U.S. dollars -- two thirds of the 2007 level for the same period (30.834 billion dollars).

    Dramatic change in tourism is another major indicator of the current economic difficulties.

    Brazilians has spent 8.98 billion dollars abroad in the first nine months this year, reaching a historical high that even surpassed 2007's total.

    By contrast, Brazilian travelers spent only 599 million dollars in October (till Oct. 23), compared with 1.1 billion dollars in September.

    However, the State's Investigation Institute of Applied Economies (IPEA), for the Republic Presidency, said on Thursday that the industrial production has grown 9.5 percent in September.

    Meanwhile, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said that he is confident that the financial market would improve as measures announced by the United States and Europe come into practice.