Transportation recovers in 2017, only segment of services to grow in the year
February 16, 2018 09h00 AM | Last Updated: February 16, 2018 11h30 AM
Even dropping 2.8% in volume of the services sector in 2017, the segment of transportation recovered and grew 2.3% in the year, the first rise since 2014. The data came from the Monthly Survey of Services - PMS, released today by the IBGE, which also pointed out a positive change of 0.5% between November and December.
This was the first segment of services to close a year on the positive side since 2014, when information and communication services (4.8%) and transportation (3.1%) itself grew. For instance, volume of the last segment fell 6.1% and 7.6% in 2015 and 2016, respectively.
"What we have to highlight is that transportation was the only one to register a consistent growth. It was a segment that reacted, indeed. It was due to the industrial sector, which is the sector that mostly demands such service. It benefits land transportation, water transportation – also leveraged by exports – and storage", explained Roberto Saldanha, manager of the survey.
The two activities that leveraged this segment were road transportation and water transportation, which accrued a rise of 0.9% and 17.5% in 2017, respectively, whereas storage, support activities for transportation and mailing activities grew 8.1%. Only air transportation dropped, a decrease of 19.4% in the year.
Comparing this month and the same month a year ago, December recorded the first positive figure for the services sector after 32 months. Nevertheless, the growth of 0.5% is still not sufficient to point out whether it is a consistent recovery of the sector.
"We haven't had positive figures since March 2015. It is a single result, too early to state that it is a recovery. But it is a positive fact. In the meantime, we can only see a reaction in the segment of transportation", concludes Saldanha.
