In March 2015, the services sector registered a nominal growth of 6.1% compared with the same month a year ago, above the rates of February (0.9% revised) and of January (1.8%), and returning to the levels of April and September 2014.
The cumulative rate in the year hit 2.9% and, in 12 months, 4.6%.

The five segments of the services sector recorded positive changes in relation to March 2014: Professional, administrative and complementary services (8.8%); Transportation, support activities for transportation and mailing activities (8.7%); Other services (5.2%); Information and communication services (2.9%); and Services rendered to families (2.5%). The complete publication can be accessed on page www.ibge.gov.br/english/estatistica/indicadores/serviços/pms.

The contributions to the overall rate were as follows: Transportation, support activities for transportation and mailing (2.8 p.p.); Professional, administrative and complementary services, (1.8 p.p.); Information and communication services (1.0 p.p.); Other services (0.3 p.p.) and Services rendered to families (0.2 p.p.) (Tables 1 and 2).

Table 1
Indicators of Nominal Revenue of Services Sector, According to Activity Groups
Brazil - March 2015

Source: IBGE, Diretoria de Pesquisas, Coordenação de Serviços e Comércio.

Table 2
ABSOLUTE COMPOSITION OF THE MONTHLY RATE OF SERVICES,
ACCORDING TO ACTIVITY GROUPS, BRAZIL - MARCH 2015

Source: IBGE, Diretoria de Pesquisas, Coordenação de Serviços e Comércio.

SECTORAL RESULTS

Services rendered to families - this segment changed 2.5% in March over the same month a year ago, below the rates of February (6.8%) and January (8.9%). The cumulative variation in the year stayed at 6.1% and, in 12 months, 7.7%. Lodging and food services registered a nominal change of 0.8% and Other services rendered to families, 13.5%. It is important to stress that the reduced variation of Lodging and food services was due to the base effect, since Carnival in 2014 took place in March.  

Information and communication services – nominal variation of 2.9% in March over the same month last year, against 0.7% in February and -1.9% in January. The cumulative variation in the year stayed at 0.6% and, in 12 months, 1.9%. Information and communication technology services -ICT changed 2.9% and Audiovisual, publishing and news agency services, 3.3%.

Professional, administrative and complementary services - variation of 8.8% in March compared with the same month a year ago, above the changes of February (3.6%) and January (5.4%). The cumulative variation in the year stayed at 6.0% and, in 12 months, 7.8%. Technical-professional services grew 5.9% and Administrative and complementary services , 9.7%.

Transportation, support activities for transportation and mailing - nominal change of 8.7% in March over the same month in the previous year. In February, this segment declined -1.8% and, in January, increased 2.1%. The cumulative variation in the year stayed at 3.1% and, in 12 months, 4.6%. In terms of mode, the figures were: Land transportation (9.0%), Water transportation (18.1%), Air transportation (-3.3%) and Storage services, support activities for transportation and mailing activities (10.9%).

Other services - nominal variation of 5.2% against -0.4% in February and no significant variation in January (0.0%). The cumulative variation in the year stayed at 1.6% and, in 12 months, 5.8%.

QUARTERLY RESULTS

The nominal growth of the services sector in the first quarter of 2015 in relation to the first quarter of 2014 stayed at 2.9%, the lowest level of the quarterly series, as a result of the lowest changes recorded in January and February. In order of variation, the quarterly growth rates were: Services rendered to families (6.1%); Professional, administrative and complementary services (6.0%); Transportation, support activities for transportation and mailing (3.1%); Other services (1.6%) and Information and communication services (0.6%) (Table 3).

REGIONAL RESULTS

In relation to the same month a year ago, the highest positive changes were reported in São Paulo (8.9%), Mato Grosso do Sul (8.4%) and Rondônia (8.3%), whereas the lowest positive changes were posted in Alagoas (0.5%), Tocantins (0.6%) and Rio Grande do Norte (1.2%). Maranhão (-9.5%), Mato Grosso (-6.3%), Acre (-5.9%), Roraima (-5.5%), Amapá (-4.6%) and Piauí (-0.8%) registered negative changes.