Monthly Survey of Services
Sevices sector advances 1.7% in October, fifth high in a row
December 11, 2020 09h00 AM | Last Updated: December 14, 2020 07h41 PM
The services sector grew 1.7% from September to October, the fifth consecutive positive result, accumulating a gain of 15.8% in this period. The result, however, is still not enough to offset the 19.8% losses between February and May, generated by the pandemic. The volume of services provided is 16.6% below the historical record set in November 2014 and 6.1% less than February 2020.
The data are from the Monthly Survey of Services (PMS), released today (11), by the IBGE.
In relation to October 2019, the sector decreased 7.4%, registering the eighth negative rate in a row in this comparison. In the year, the drop was 8.7%, while in the last 12 months, the decline reached 6.8%, the most intense negative result since the beginning of the time series, in December 2012 for this indicator.
From September to October, four of the five activities surveyed grew, with a highlight to Information and communication (2.6%). Only the Other services sector (-3.5%) recorded a negative rate in this comparison, returning part of the 19.2% gain accumulated in the last four months.
In the cumulative index from January to October 2020, Other services (6.4%) was the only positive contribution. “The sector is above the level of February, before the effects of the pandemic. This activity has been driven, mainly, by the increase in revenues of companies that operate in the securities, real estate and commodities brokerage segments, in addition to the management of stock exchanges and organized over-the-counter markets”, comments the survey manager, Rodrigo Lobo.
The other activity that also operates above the pre-pandemic level is Information and Communication, which increased 2.6% in relation to September, but still accumulates a 2.3% decrease in the year. Within this sector, the Information Technology segment shows dynamism and recovery, being one of the few with a positive result in the year (7.4%).
Among the sectors most affected by the pandemic, Transportation (1.5%) grew for the sixth consecutive month, while Services rendered to families (4.6%) reached the third consecutive increase. However, in the year, the former still accumulates a retraction of 8.5% and the second, 37.7%.
The index of Tourism Activities pointed to an expansion of 7.1% compared to the previous month, the sixth consecutive positive rate, a period in which it accumulated a gain of 102.6%. However, the segment still needs to advance 54.7% to return to the February level.
Some segments of services that are directly related to tourism, such as Lodging and food, which rose by 6.4% in October compared to the previous month, and Air Transportation, which rose by 0.7%, still accumulated the most significant falls in the year (-39.2% and -37.6%, respectively).
