Volume of services in Brazil retreated 0.5% in December 2024, the second consecutive negative figure, accumulating a loss of 1.9% in the last two months of the year. Compared with December 2023, volume of services grew 2.4%, the ninth positive figure in a row. In the cumulative index in 2024, the sector closed with a rise of 3.1%, the fourth consecutive year of growth. These are data from the Monthly Survey of Services, released today (12) by the IBGE.

With the retreat of 0.5% in December, the services sector is 15.6% above the pre-pandemic level (February 2020) and 1.9% below the peak of the time series (October 2024).

Rodrigo Lobo, manager of the PMS, highlights that the cumulative result in 2024 completes the fourth consecutive year of positive annual rates, which has never occurred in the time series started in 2012. "It caused a cumulative growth of 27.4% between 2021 and 2024, though each year has a different reason," points him out.

In 2024, services advanced 3.1%, with four sectors growing. The highlights were information and communication services (6.2%) and professional, administrative and complementary services (6.2%). Telecommunications and IT services stood out in the first sector.
"In professional, administrative and complementary services, the highlights were the advances in revenue coming from agencying of advertisement, due to the advertisement in digital platforms, legal activities, with an increased receiving of lawsuits, and business intermediation in general through applications or platforms of e-commerce," explains the researcher.

He completes that, on the negative side, the highlight was the sector of transportation, pressed by a lower revenue from road cargo transportation, since that the smaller harvest in 2024 required less freights.

When reviewing the consecutive years of positive results, the manager of the PMS reminds that, when growing 10.9% in 2021, the services sector completely recovered from the loss of 7.8% registered in 2020 (the most critical year of the Covid-19 pandemic). All the sectors recorded positive rates, highlighted by the advances coming from the sectors of transportation (15.2%) and information and communication (9.5%).

"While the former was leveraged by road cargo transportation, which followed the boom in the electronic commerce, the latter grew due to the advances in the revenue of information technology companies, inasmuch as several companies had to move sales to on-line platforms rather than physical stores. Software development demanded a lot the IT area as well," explains Lobo.

In 2022, services grew 8.3%. The major highlight was the sector of transportation, again leveraged by road cargo transportation, mass road transportation and air transportation. The last two segments were explained by a return to normality, since urban mobility increased either for work or leisure.

"Only other services retreated in the cumulative index in 2022, pressed by a lower income from securities brokerages, due to a higher comparison basis in 2021," analyzes him.

In 2023, services grew 2.9%, highlighted by information and communication (3.6%) and professional, administrative and complementary services (5.9%). Only other services dropped (-1.8%).
"In information and communication, both telecommunications and IT services grew. As to professional and administrative services, car rental and engineering services stood out once again, as well as business intermediation in general through applications or platforms of e-commerce," reminds the manager.

Lobo points out that services rendered to families grew between 2021 and 2024, though not standing out. In 2021 and 2022, during the recovery of the pandemic, and in 2023 and 2024, consolidating the advance through improvements in the levels of income and jobs, which increased the consumption of services like restaurants, theater shows and musicals, and hotels.

Volume of services retreats 0.5% in December, the second negative figure in a row
The retreat in volume of services (-0.5%) between November and December was followed by three out of five activities investigated, highlighted by the retraction coming from other services (-4.2%), which reported the most intense drop since January 2023 (-11.2%).
"The drop of 4.2% in other services in December 2024, over the previous month, is explained by a lower revenue coming from auxiliary financial services, with a lower revenue in card administration, for instance, and in maintenance and repair of vehicles, with a lower revenue in the Holiday Season," explains Lobo.

The other retreats came from professional, administrative and complementary services (-0.7%) and information and communication (-0.7%), the former registering the second consecutive setback, with a cumulative loss of 3.9%, and the latter virtually offsetting the entire gain recorded in November (0.9%).

On the other hand, services rendered to families (0.8%) recorded the most relevant advance, accumulating a growth of 7.8% between May and December 2024, whereas transportation (0.1%) reported a slightly positive change, after retreating 3.5% in November.

Tourism grows 2.8% in December and 3.5% in 2024
The index of tourism activities of the PMS recorded an increase of 2.8% over November. As a result, the tourism segment is 14.6% above the level of February 2020 (pre-pandemic), renewing the peak of its time series.

In regional terms, 12 out of 17 places surveyed followed the expansion recorded by the national tourism activity (2.8%). The most relevant positive contribution came from São Paulo (4.1%), followed by Rio de Janeiro (1.4%), Pará (9.2%) and Rio Grande do Sul (2.6%). Conversely, Santa Catarina (-3.8%) led the losses of tourism, followed by the Federal District (-2.0%) and Paraná (-1.0%).

Comparing December 2024 and December 2023, the volume of tourism activities in Brazil grew 9.5%, the seventh positive rate in a row. In regional terms, 15 out of 17 Federation Units where the indicator is investigated advanced in tourism services, highlighted by São Paulo (11.5%), followed by Rio de Janeiro (9.6%), Bahia (11.3%), Minas Gerais (5.6%) and Paraná (10.9%).

Passenger transportation rises 0.9% in December and closes year with an expansion of 2.8%
After retreating 6.3% in the previous month, volume of passenger transportation in Brazil expanded 0.9% between November and December. Therefore, the segment is 5.6% above the level of February 2020 (pre-pandemic) and 18.4% below that of February 2014 (peak of the time series).

In the seasonally-unadjusted series, it expanded 14.9% in December 2024 against December 2023, the fourth positive figure in a row.
In the cumulative indicator between January and December 2024, passenger transportation expanded 2.8% over the same period in 2023.

On its turn, volume of cargo transportation retreated 1.3% in December, the second consecutive setback, with a cumulative loss of 2.7% in the last two months of the year. As a result, the segment is 8.3% below the peak of the time series (July 2023). Concerning the pre-pandemic level, cargo transportation is 31.8% above that of February 2020.

In the seasonally-unadjusted series, it retreated 2.2% against December 2023, the second drop in a row.

In the cumulative indicator between January and December 2024, cargo transportation retreated 2.3 over the previous year.

More about the 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. The results are available on Sidra. The next release of the Monthly Survey of Services, related to January 2025, will be on March 13, 2025.