The Ifo/FGV Indicator of Economic Climate in Latin America (ICE) of January - prepared by the Brazilian Institute of Economics (FGV/IBRE) and the German Institute based on data from the Ifo World Economic Survey (WES) - increased by 8% after remaining stable for the last two surveys (July and October 2013). However, among the 11 surveyed countries, Brazil is less optimistic about the economy, showing a decrease of 6.3% (89 points).

No other country deteriorated, besides Brazil. But even with this deterioration, the evaluation is even better than in July 2013 (75 points), said the project coordinator of IBRE's Center of Foreign Trade Studies, Lia Valls.

Venezuela and Argentina hold the worst ICE of the region, with 20 points and 77 points, respectively - the same results of the survey of October for all indicators. Given this scenario, Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela occupy the last positions in the ranking of Latin America.

Regarding the Argentine crisis, IBRE points out that it can affect the Brazilian automotive industry, but total exports for that country do not reach 1% of the GDP. Uruguay and Paraguay called attention because their ICE improved, even with exports to the Argentine market. According to the institute, the infection of Argentina through trade can be offset by other markets, which helps explain why the ICE of these countries seems not to have been affected by the crisis in Argentina.

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