Monthly Survey of Services
Services fall 6.9% in March, worst result of the sector since 2011
May 12, 2020 09h00 AM | Last Updated: May 12, 2020 12h03 PM
The volume of services fell by 6.9% in March, in comparison with February, and reached the worst result of the sector in March, in comparison with February, having reached the worst result in the time series of the Monthly Survey of Services (PMS), initiated in January 2011. The data of March, released today (12) by the IBGE, show that retraction is a consequence of the isolation measures implemented to reduce the advance of infection by Covid-19 . The sector has recorded its second decrease in a row, after falling by 1% in February.
All the five activities surveyed recorded decreases, with a highlight to services rendered to families (-31.2%) and transportation, support activities for transportation and mailing activities (-9%).
“That decrease is mainly influenced by the interruption of services in establishments, mainly in restaurants and hotels, which are part of the services rendered to families. Other companies were also affected after being temporarily or permanently closed, such as the segment of air transportation and some companies of collective road transportation of passengers”, says the survey manager, Rodrigo Lobo.
The impacts on service companies were mainly observed on the last ten days of March, when interruption started. “Local governments gradually implemented stronger measures in order to promote social isolation. As a result, some providers of non-essential services, such as restaurants, were led to change their way of working, often adopting the delivery system; for hotels, however, that option is not available and many of them have been closed”, Mr. Lobo explains.
Services rendered to families recorded the most significant decrease since the start of the time series, whereas transportation support activities for transportation and mailing activities had the main decrease in the series, being only second to May 2018, during the driver strike.
Other activities recording decrease in the month were professional, administrative and complementary services (-3.6%), information and communication (-1.1%) and other services (-1.6%).
Regionally, 24 of the 27 Federation Units recorded negative results in March, in comparison with February, the main highlights being São Paulo (-6.2%) and Rio de Janeiro (-9.2%), due to the segments of lodging and feeding. The only positive impacts came from Amazonas (1.9%), Rondônia (3.1%) and Maranhão (1.1%).
In comparison with March 2019, the volume of services decreased by 2.7% in March 2020, with decreases in two of the five activities: services rendered to families (-33.4%) and professional, administrative and complementary services (-3.4%).
“That rate of 2.7% interrupts a series of six positive rates. The decrease of services rendered to families was affected by results in the segment of hotels and restaurants and of professional, administrative and complementary services, especially in companies of loyalty programs , private security and surveillance, engineering-related activities, among others”.
Index of tourism activities records decrease of 30%
The fall in the segments of hotels and restaurants, besides air transportation of passengers and travel agencies, also had an impact on the index of tourism activities in March, with a decrease of almost 30% against the February figure. That is the most significant decrease since the beginning of the time series, also initiated in January 2011.
In regional terms, all the 12 Federation Units surveyed in this indicator followed the retrogression observed in the country, especially in São Paulo (-28.8%), Rio de Janeiro (-36.6%) and Minas Gerais (-30.8%).
