The volume of services in the country increased by 0.8% in February 2025 compared to the previous month, when it fell by 0.6%. Compared to February 2024, the sector expanded by 4.2%, the eleventh consecutive positive rate. The positive change in the month was driven mainly by information and communication services, which grew by 1.8%. With the result for February, the services sector is 1.0% below the highest point in its series, reached in October 2024. Regarding the pre-pandemic level, the total volume of services is 16.2% above February 2020. The data are from the Monthly Survey of Services (PMS), released today (10) by the IBGE.

In addition to the information and communication sector, three other activities showed positive performance in February: professional, administrative and complementary services (1.1%), other services (2.2%) and services rendered to families (0.5%). The first recovered part of the loss seen in the previous three months (-3.8%), the second recorded an cumulative growth of 5.0% in the first two months of the year, and the last recovered a small portion of the retraction seen in January (-3.3%).

“In February, the services sector showed widespread growth, with four of the five activities surveyed showing positive results. With this month's growth, there was a recovery of the loss seen in January”, analyzes survey manager Rodrigo Lobo.

In the cumulative total for the first two months of this year, the volume of services expanded by 2.6% compared to the same period in 2024. The cumulative total for the last 12 months, having increased by 2.8% in February 2025, repeated the pace of expansion seen in January 2025 (2.8%).

With an increase of 1.8%, the information and communication sector was the main positive influence in the month

The information and communication sector was important for the February result, being responsible for the biggest positive impact with a growth of 1.8%. “The highlight of recent months has been the information and communication sector, especially the information technology services sector, which continues to reach new peaks each month due to the high demand for IT services, such as software development and licensing; information technology consulting; portals, content providers and internet search tools; data processing, etc. In professional and administrative services (1.1%), the growth in revenues of companies that operate with business intermediation in general through applications and e-commerce platforms; engineering services; business management consulting; and general cleaning activities stood out. In other services (2.2%), the increase in revenues of companies that operate with credit card administration; auxiliary financial services; and garbage collection stood out. In services rendered to families (0.5%), catering services and activities supporting education were the main factors responsible for the increase”, says Mr. Lobo.

On the other hand, transportation (-0.1%) was responsible for the only negative rate in February 2025, after declining by 1.8% in January. The PMS manager points out that “the slight negative change in transportation was due to a drop in revenue from companies operating in mailing services; transportation logistics; pipeline transportation; and collective road passenger transportation activities.”

Passenger (0.8%) and cargo (1.2%) transportation increased in February

After falling 5.8% in January 2025, the volume of passenger transportation in Brazil rose 0.8% in February compared to the previous month. In this reference month, the segment is 0.6% below the level of February 2020 (pre-pandemic) and 23.7% below February 2014 (the highest point in the time series).

The volume of cargo transportation, in turn, increased by 1.2% in February 2025, recovering part of the 3.2% loss seen between November 2024 and January 2025. Thus, the segment is 7.7% below the highest point in its series, reached in July 2023. In relation to the pre-pandemic level, cargo transportation is 33.9% above February 2020.

Services grew in 21 of the 27 Federation Units

In regional terms, the majority (21) of the 27 Federation Units reported an expansion in the volume of services in February 2025, compared to January of the same year, in line with the growth observed in the national result (0.8%).

The most significant impacts came from São Paulo (0.8%) and Mato Grosso (24.9%), followed by the Federal District (9.2%), Amazonas (14.2%) and Santa Catarina (2.1%). On the other hand, Rio de Janeiro (-0.9%), Minas Gerais (-0.6%) and Espírito Santo (-1.8%) were responsible for the main negative contributions in February.

Compared to February 2024, services grew by 4.2%

Compared to February 2024, the expansion in the volume of services in Brazil (4.2%) was followed by 23 of the 27 Federation Units. The state with the largest positive contribution was São Paulo (5.7%), followed by Rio de Janeiro (5.5%), the Federal District (9.0%), Mato Grosso (10.9%) and Paraná (3.7%). On the other hand, Rio Grande do Sul (-14.0%) was the negative highlight of the month.

Tourism activities expanded by 2.9% in February

In February 2025, the tourism activities index showed growth of 2.9% compared to the previous month, after having fallen by 6.1% in January. With this performance, the tourism sector is 9.7% above the level of February 2020 and 3.4% below the peak of its time series, reached in December 2024.

Regionally, 10 of the 17 locations surveyed followed this growth seen in national tourism activity (2.9%). Rio de Janeiro (3.1%) exerted the most intense positive influence, followed by Paraná (6.5%), Minas Gerais (1.7%) and Espírito Santo (5.8%). On the other hand, São Paulo (-0.9%), Bahia (-3.2%) and Goiás (-5.2%) had the most significant losses.

“The tourism sector performed well in February, but it is worth highlighting the low comparison base, since tourism fell 6.1% in January. Air passenger transport ation was the main factor responsible for the increase in tourism activities in February. Another important factor was the drop in airfare prices (-20.46%). This ends up being reflected in an increase in the volume of air transportation”, observes Mr. Lobo.

In the comparison between February 2025 and the same month of the previous year, the index of volume of tourism activities in Brazil showed growth of 7.3%, the ninth positive rate in a row. The main reason was the increase in revenue of companies operating in the areas of air passenger transportation, travel agencies and car rental.

Fourteen of the 17 Federation Units where the indicator is investigated showed growth in tourism-related services, with São Paulo (8.6%) standing out, followed by Rio de Janeiro (11.6%), Santa Catarina (13.7%), Paraná (9.9%) and Minas Gerais (3.7%). Rio Grande do Sul (-4.0%), Alagoas (-6.0%) and Mato Grosso (-4.4%) had the main negative impacts during the month.

More about the survey

The PMS allows for the monitoring of the services sector in the country, investigating gross revenue from services in formally constituted companies, with 20 or more employees, that have non-financial services as their main activity, excluding the areas of health and education. There are results for Brazil and all Federation Units. The data can be found on Sidra. The next release of the Monthly Services Survey, for the month of March, will be on May 14.