Monthly Survey of Services
Services sector closes 2018 at -0.1% and accumulates four years of negative rates
February 14, 2019 09h00 AM | Last Updated: February 19, 2019 09h36 AM
The volume of services closed 2018 with a drop of 0.1%, the fourth negative result in a row, but less sharp than those of the previous years. The data are from the Monthly Survey of Services (PMS), released today by the IBGE, which registered -3.6% in 2015, -5% in 2016 and -2,8% in 2017.
With a drop of 1.9%, the segment of professional, administrative and complementary services drove down the index in the year. The activities that most influenced the retraction of this segment are related to services of collection agencies and credit bureaus, electronic payment solutions, engineering and private security.
According to survey manager Rodrigo Lobo, it is typical of this sector to provide services to other companies, and its weight in the negative cumulative rate "has to do with the unfavorable moment of the economy as a whole, since in a cost containment context, companies usually do without this kind of service." Another activity with negative rates was information and communication services, with -0.5%.
The positive highlights were other services, with 1.9%, and transportation, support services to transportation and mailing, with 1.2%. Lobo explains that the increase in this last segment had been reflecting, since October, the recovery from the truck drivers' strike in 2018, "driven mainly by the increase in the volume of cargo transportation, port and terminal management, air transportation of passengers and the operation of airports ".
In the monthly result, the volume of services increased 0.2% between November and December of last year, and kept stable, reaching 0.1% in October and 0.5% in November. In December, the change was 11.4% below the highest point in the series, which was in January 2014.
