Monthly Survey of Services
Services sector falls 0.7% in March and racks up three months of negative results
May 14, 2019 09h00 AM | Last Updated: May 14, 2019 11h24 AM
In March, the services sector fell 0.7%, the thirds consecutive drop in the comparison with the previous month, after falling 0.6% in February and 0.4% in January. The decrease was driven, mainly, by the services of information and communication (-1.7%). The positive results occurred in transportation (0.5%) and services rendered to families (1.4%), which include restaurants and hotels.
Despite de negative result in the general index, tourism activities grew 4.8% in March, fully recovering the losses of 4.2% in February. The data are found in the Monthly Survey of Services, released today by the IBGE.
The growth of tourism activities in March was observed in 11 of the 12 Federation Units in which this indicator is studied, with emphasis on São Paulo (3%), Rio de Janeiro (7.9%), and the Federal District (18.2% %) and Santa Catarina (12.2%). "There has been growth in hotel and restaurant activities, which are in services rendered to families, as well as in the rental of automobiles, which is part of the complementary services," explains research manager Rodrigo Lobo.
Another evidence that the activities related to tourism had a positive impact is in air transportation, which had registered -15.8% in February and rose 12.2% in March. "It is necessary to consider the low comparison basis of the previous month, but Carnival certainly had a positive weight in plane travels," concludes Rodrigo.
Holiday favors tourism, but shrinks other services
Over March 2018, services in general recorded -2,3%, the sharpest decrease since May 2018, partly explained by influence of two less workdays. On the other hand, tourism advanced 1.9% in the same kind of comparison. “In this specific case, the long holiday season can have a positive effect on the analysed activities, since families take this time to travel and go to restaurants”, analyses the survey manager.
Compared to March 2018, the main responsible for the -2.3% result was transportation and mailing services (-7.1%), driven by the fall in revenues of road transportation of cargo, port management, collective road transportation and mailing, on account of the two less workdays in the month. Hotels, restaurants and entertainment enterprises had a positive influence on services rendered to families (4.4%), the main positive indicator of this comparison.
