Volume of services rendered in Brazil remains growing. The sector rose 0.5% between March and April, the second consecutive positive figure with a cumulative gain of 1.2% in the period. As a result, the services sector is 12.9% above the pre-pandemic level (February 2020) and 0.7% below the peak in the time series, hit in December 2022.

Compared with the same month last year, the sector expanded 5.6%, offsetting the retreat of 2.2% registered in March. In the cumulative index in the year, volume of services rose 2.3% in the first four-month period of 2024 compared with the same period in 2023. The cumulative index in 12 months was 1.6%. The data are from the Monthly Survey of Services, whose result was released today (12) by the IBGE.

Of the five PMS activities, three of them grew between March and April. The major highlight was the rise of 1.7% in transportation. It is the second expansion in a row, with a cumulative gain of 2.5% in the period. Of the four types of services with the biggest positive impact on the month´s figure, three of them belong to the group of transportation. "Air transportation exerted the biggest influence, caused by the drop in the prices of airfare in April," explains Rodrigo Lobo, manager of the survey. Municipal road transportation of passengers exerted the third impact and cargo logistics stayed in the fourth position," complements him.

Another activity with an important influence on the growth of 0.5% of the sector in April was other service activities. By rising 5.0%, it also recorded the second growth in a row, accumulating an expansion of 5.3% in the March-April period. Auxiliary financial services stood out in this group, pointing out the second biggest positive infleucne in the entire survey.

The third activity that rose was information and communication (0.4%), reaching the peak of its time series in April 2024. "The performance of the group this month was leveraged by the result in telecommunications," states Lobo.

Among the drops, professional, administrative and complementary services retreated 1.1%. "The drop is due to a higher comparison basis, since the sector came from a rise of 4.0% in March. Anyway, this retreat does not offset the gain in the previous month and the group still has a positive balance in these two months," justifies the PMS manager. Engineering services, companies that work with discount cards and rewards programs and travel agencies had an important role to explain the drop in the sector of professional and administrative services in April.

Having dropped 1.8%, the sector of sservices rendered to families recorded the most intense retreat since October 2023, when it fell 1.9%. The group of lodging and feeding exerted the biggest negative impact in the activity, followed by theater and musicals. "In the latter, the comparison basis was higher, due to a rise in March caused by a festival that took place in São Paulo," reminds Lobo.

In the regional analysis, 20 out of 27 Federation Units (FUs) grew between March and April. Among the places that reported positive rates this month, the most important impacts came from São Paulo (0.6%) and Minas Gerais (3.2%), followed by Bahia (5.7%) and the Federal District (5.4%). In contrast, Rio de Janeiro (-0.7%), Tocantins (-22.5%) and Paraná (-1.0%) exerted the biggest negative influences.

Volume of services grows 5.6% in the inter-annual comparison

The PMS also brought the results of the services sector in the inter-annual comparison, between April 2024 and April 2023. In this case, volume of the services sector grew 5.6%, after retreating 2.2% in March. All the five activities grew in this comparison, with the sector of information and communication exerting the major positive impact with a rise of 7.7%. 

"In 2024, the month of April had two more business days than April 2023, which managed to bring a positive impact to this indicator. There is a greater chance of establishing new services contracts, for instance," highlights the manager.

In regional terms, 23 out of 27 FUs grew. The most important positive contribution came from São Paulo (5.7%). In contrast, Rio Grande do Sul (-2.6%) led the losses this month. "It should be highlighted that the drop in volume of services in Rio Grande do Sul is due to a less dynamic agriculture. In 2024, the harvests are smaller, which reflected on the drop in road transportation of cargo, responsible for distributing the agricultural production and with a high weight in the state. The same happened in other states with a strong agriculture," clarifies Rodrigo Lobo, mentioning the drops in Mato Grosso do Sul (-5.4%) and Tocantins (-8.1%).

Tourism gros 2.3% in April

The index of tourism activities grew 2.3% in April over March, pointing out the second consecutive positive figure and accumulating a gain of 2.4% in this period. The segment of tourism stayed 4.7% above the pre-pandemic level (February 2020) and 3.0% below the peak in the time series (February 2014). "This index aggregates 22 services activities, including air transportation of passengers, which, as already explained, was positively influenced by the drop in airfare," reminds Lobo.

In the regional analysis, ten out of 12 places rose, with the most relevant positive contribution coming from São Paulo (3.7%), followed by Minas Gerais (4.9%), Federal District (4.4%) and Paraná (2.9%). On the other hand, Rio Grande do Sul (-3.6%) and Rio de Janeiro (-0.5%) retreated. 

Passenger and cargo transportation rise in April

The survey brings the result for transportation aggregates as well. Volume of passenger transportation in Brazil grew 10.2% between March and April. Therefore, this segment stayed 3.2% above the level of February 2020 (pre-pandemic) and 20.5% below February 2014 (peak of the time series). It expanded 9.9% compared with April 2023, after recording five negative figures in a row. It retreated 3.0% in the cumulative index in the first four-month period of the year over the same period in 2023.

Cargo transportation changed positively 0.2% in April, standing 6.3% below the peak of the time series (July 2023) and 34.1% above the pre-pandemic level (February 2020). The indicator grew 3.4% compared with April 2023, after dropping 8.2% in March. In the cumulative index in the year (first four-month period), cargo transportation advanced 1.1% compared with the same period a year ago.

More about the survey

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 that employ 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 on Sidra.

This is the 16th release of the new time series of the survey, which updated the sample of enterprises, as well as included methodological changes to portray economic changes in the society. They are updates already scheduled and periodically implemented by the IBGE. The next release of the Monthly Survey of Services, related to May, will be on July 12.