After advancing 1.3% in the previous month, volume of services rendered in Brazil grew 0.7% in August. It is the fourth consecutive positive figure, leading to a cumulative gain of 3.3% in this period. As a result, this sector is 10.1% above the pre-pandemic level, registered in February 2020, and it is only 0.9% below the peak of the time series, reached in November 2014.  

Released today (14) by the IBGE, these data come from the Monthly Survey of Services (PMS).

“The services sector has been advancing for four months in a row. The last time it happened was last year, when we reached five months on the positive side between April and August. In the previous month, this sector was 1.5% below the peak of the time series and, in August, it gets even closer November 2014,” explains Luiz Almeida, an analyst of the survey.

Three out of five activities surveyed followed the positive figure of the overall index. Among them, the highlights were other services (6.7%) and information and communication (0.6%). In the previous month, volume of the sector of other services had fallen 5.0%. “The positive figure comes after a drop, which is not unusual, especially in the sector of auxiliary financial services, which exerted the greatest influence on that advance and also on the retraction in the previous month,” highlights the researcher. Auxiliary financial services encompass security brokers, consulting in financial investments and administration of stock exchange and counter market.

With the growth registered in August, the sector of information and communication accumulates a gain of 1.8% over the last two months. “It was the second sector that mostly contributed to the advance of volume of services in August. It hit the peak of the time series, reaching the same level recorded in December 2021. This result is especially due to the segment of information technology, which is very dynamic and it also reached the peak of the time series this month. It is one of the sectors that grew in spite of the pandemic, mainly due to home office and digitalization of services,” said him.

The analyst adds that the segment of telecommunications, which is part of the activity of information and communication, came from a drop of 1.8% in the previous month to an increase of 1.5% in August. “This sector is still 20.7% below the peak of the time series. Yet, with the advance in August, it is one of those responsible for the growth of information and communication.”

Services rendered to families (1.0%) grew for the sixth month in a row, accumulating a gain of 10.7% in the period. However, this sector is still 4.8% below the pre-pandemic level. “It is explained by the fact that it had been the most affected sector during the pandemic. It has been reducing the losses with the upturn of on-site activities, drop of restrictions and reduction of unemployment, though it did not reach the level of February 2020. During the pandemic, this sector hit 67% below its record level, reached in May 2014,” reminds him.

Transportation, which was growing in the three previous months, retreated 0.2% in August. “The sector of transportation registered a cumulative increase of 4.0% between May and July and it is 20% above the pre-pandemic level and 0.2% below the peak of the time series, which was right in the previous month. This slight drop seems like an adjustment of the sector,” analyzes Almeida.

Having advanced 4.1% in July, passenger transportation dropped 0.5% in August. “It is a slight decrease that offsets part of the increase in July, which was a holiday season, with people more prone to travel,” explains him.

Cargo transportation also registered a negative change (-0.3%) in August. This sector gained 19.1% between September 2021 and last July. With the good results, this sector is 31.3% above the level of February 2020. “Cargo transportation recorded a significant increase with the changes in the supply chains, due to on-line deliveries during the pandemic, as well as to the record harvest, which resulted in an increase in the transportation of inputs to the agricultural production and even to its distribution,” points out the researcher.

Professional, administrative and complementary services remained stable (0.0%) after dropping 1.1% in July.

Between July and August, volume of services of 18 out of 27 Federation Units grew. The greatest impacts came from São Paulo (1.6%), followed by the Federal District (5.0%), Minas Gerais (1.0%) and Rio de Janeiro (0.5%). On the other hand, Paraná (-7.1%) exerted the major negative influence, followed by Goiás (-3.4%) and Rio Grande do Sul (-1.1%).

Volume of services grows 8.0% in the inter-annual comparison

When compared with August last year, volume of the services sector grew 8.0%, the 18th consecutive positive rate in this indicator. Among five activities, the major influence came from transportation, support services to transportation and mailing (13.6%), a sector impacted by the increase in the revenue of enterprises of road transportation of cargo, mass road transportation and air transportation of passengers, among others.

The other advances came from professional, administrative and complementary services (7.3%), services rendered to families (22.0%) and information and communication (2.9%). Other services (-2.4%) registered the only negative rate this month.

The drop in this sector was related with the performance of auxiliary financial services. “During the pandemic, shift restrictions reduced the consumption of on-site services and allowed higher-income families to save part of their earnings. It caused a significant increase in the number of people investing in the stock market, leading to a boom in that sector. The high comparison basis might explain this drop when we compare with the same month a year ago,” says the analyst of the survey.

Tourism activities grow 1.2% in August

The index of tourism activities grew 1.2% in August, the second positive figure in a row. With this advance, this sector was 0.1% above the pre-pandemic level.  Only three out of 12 places surveyed for that indicator also grew: Minas Gerais (3.9%), São Paulo (0.6%) and Pernambuco (0.8%). The major retreats were in Rio Grande do Sul (-6.0%) and Santa Catarina (-6.0%).

Compared with August last year, this sector advanced 22.8%, especially impacted by the growth in the revenue of enterprises of restaurants, hotels, car rental, air transportation, catering and mass road transportation. All the regions advanced in this indicator. Between January and August, the special aggregate of tourism activities accumulates an expansion of 39.1%. 

More about PMS

The Monthly Survey of Services produces indicators to monitor the short-term behavior of the services sector in Brazil. The survey investigates the gross revenue from services in formal enterprises employing 20 or more persons, in which the main activity is a non-financial service, excluding the areas of health and education.  It produces results for Brazil and all the Federation Units.  Results are available at Sidra.