Telecommunication and cargo transportation heat up services sector
January 12, 2018 09h00 AM | Last Updated: January 12, 2018 02h21 PM
After falling 0.8% in October, the services sector grew once again in November 2017, registering a rise of 1.0% in relation to the previous month. Except for Other services, which remained stable, all the five activities recorded positive figures, though the sector was particularly leveraged by Information and communication services, which grew 0.9%, and by Transportation, which increased 0.6%. This information came from the Monthly Survey of Services - PMS, released today by the IBGE.
Roberto Saldanha, manager of the survey, highlights that telecommunication and land transportation were the major positive influences this month: "In the case of telecommunication, the 2.0% rise was due to the bigger demand of services for enterprises. Land transportation, which rose 1.8%, was leveraged by cargo transportation, following the upturn in industry".
Despite the moderate growth of 0.2% in Professional, administrative and complementary services, they also helped to raise the rate. Together, these three activities account for nearly 85% of the sector. Services rendered to families increased 0.9%, yet they slightly weight in the sector.
Services remained dropping (-0.7%) compared with the same month a year ago, though less intense than those reported in the previous months. After falling 3.2% in September, the sector dropped 0.4% in October.
"As of October, we began to notice a slow recovery. However, October and November 2016 posted a low growth, so the impact is smaller when we compare with a depressed basis", noted Saldanha.
On the one hand, the activities of Professional, administrative and complementary services, which dropped 6.5% and impacted -1.6 p.p. on the index, stood out in this comparison; on the other hand, Transportation, support activities for transportation and mailing stood out by changing 6.5% and impacting 1.8 p.p.
According to Saldanha, "in the case of professional services, the drop is related to cost cutting and lack of investment in the enterprises. Conversely, transportation has been recovering as a result of industry".
In 2017, the services sector accrued a drop of -3.2% between January and November and of -3.4%, in the 12 months ended in November.
Text: Irene Gomes
Design: Marcelo Barroso
Image: Pexels
