Main GDP results from Q4 2013 to Q2 2015

In the seasonally-adjusted series, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) declined (-1.9%) in the comparison between the second quarter of 2015 and the first quarter of the year. Compared with the same period in 2014, the GDP also changed negatively (-2.6%). The cumulative rate of the four quarters ending in the second quarter of 2015 decreased (-1.2%) in relation to the four previous quarters, as well as the cumulative figure of the year up to June (-2.1%), in relation to the same period in 2014. At current values, the GDP reached R$1.43 trillion in the second quarter of 2015. The complete publication of the survey can be accessed here.

Agriculture, industry and services fall compared with Q1 2015

In the seasonally-adjusted series, the GDP dropped 1.9% in the comparison between the second quarter of 2015 and the first quarter of the year. Agriculture (-2.7%), Industry (-4.3%) and Services (-0.7%) retracted.

Civil construction was the highest drop in industry: retraction of 8.4%. The manufacturing industry (-3.7%) and the activity of electricity and gas, water, sewage and urban sanitation
(-1.5%) also declined in the second quarter of the year. Mining and quarrying posted a positive change of 0.3%.

In services, public education, health and administration (1.9%) and real estate activities (0.3%) registered positive figures. The other activities retracted in relation to the immediately previous quarter: trade (-3.3%), transportation, storage and mailing
(-2.0%), information services (-1.3%), other services (-1.0%) and financial intermediation and insurance (-0.2%).

On the expenditure side, gross fixed capital formation recorded the eighth consecutive quarter of drop in this comparison basis: 8.1%. Household consumption expenditure (-2.1%) dropped for the second quarter in a row. Government consumption expenditure rose 0.7% over the immediately previous quarter. Concerning the foreign sector, exports of goods and services increased 3.4%, whereas imports of goods and services declined 8.8% over the first quarter of 2015.

Services fall (-1.4%) in comparison with Q2 2014

When compared with the same period last year, the GDP retreated 2.6% in the second quarter of 2015. The value added at basic prices decreased 2.1% and the product taxes less subsidies declined 5.7%.

The result of agriculture (1.8%) in the second quarter of 2015, in relation to the same period a year ago, can be explained by the performance of some products with a relevant harvest in the second quarter, as well as by the productivity, according to the Systematic Survey of Agricultural Production (LSPA/IBGE - July 2015). Except for coffee and beans, whose production dropped 2.2% and 4.1% respectively, the other products with harvest in the second quarter grew and recorded productivity gains: soybeans (11.9%), corn (5.2%), rice (4.4%), cassava (2.3%) and sugarcane (2.1%).

Industry dropped (-5.2%) and the manufacturing industry retracted 8.3%. This result was influenced by the decreasing manufacturing of machinery and equipment; of the car industry; of electronic products and computer equipment; of inputs to civil construction and of petroleum products.

The activity of electricity and gas, water, sewage and urban sanitation dropped 4.7%, pressed by the reduced non-residential consumption of electricity. Civil construction also reduced the volume of value added by 8.2%. On its turn, mining and quarrying rose 8.1% in relation to the second quarter of 2014, influenced by the increasing extraction of petroleum and natural gas, as well as by the increasing extraction of ferrous ores.

The value added of services fell 1.4% over the same period last year, highlighted by the retraction of 7.2% of trade (wholesale and retail) and of 6.0% of transportation, storage and mailing, pressed by the decreasing transportation and storage of cargo. The activity of other services (-1.9%) also decreased.

Real estate activities (2.8%), public education, health and administration (0.6%), information services (0.5%) - which includes telecommunications, TV, radio and cinema activities, publishing of newspapers, books and magazines, information technology and other services related to information and communication technologies (ICTs) - and also financial intermediation and insurance (0.4%) recorded positive figures.

Gross fixed capital formation falls (-11.9%) in relation to Q2 2014

All the components of the domestic demand dropped in the comparison between the second quarter of 2015 and the same period in 2014. Household consumption expenditure
 (-2.7%) fell for the second time in a row. This result could be explained by the worsening indicators of inflation, interests, credit, employment and income along the period.

Gross fixed capital formation shrank 11.9% in the second quarter of 2015, the highest retraction since the first quarter of 1996 (-12.7%). This reduction resulted mainly from the fall of imports and of the domestic production of capital goods, as well as from the negative performance of civil construction. Government consumption expenditure, on its turn, dropped 1.1% over the second quarter of 2014.

In the foreign sector, exports of goods and services expanded 7.5%, whereas imports of goods and services fell 11.7%, both of them influenced by the currency depreciation of 38% registered in the period.

GDP falls in first semester (-2.1%) and in 12 months (-1.2%)

In the first semester of 2015, the GDP dropped 2.1% over the same period in 2014, following the negative change of 0.4% in the semester ending in December 2014. The cumulative GDP in the four quarters ending in June 2015 recorded a drop of 1.2% in relation to the four previous quarters.  This rate resulted from the contraction of 1.0% in the value added at basic prices and from the decline of 2.8% in the product taxes less subsidies.

Investment rate reaches 17.8% of GDP

The Gross Domestic Product added up to R$1.43 trillion in the second quarter of 2015, being
R$1.22 trillion relative to Value Added at basic prices and R$209.4 billion to Product Taxes Less Subsidies . 

Concerning the Value added of the activities in the quarter, Agriculture recorded R$76.1 billion, Industry R$263.6 billion and Services, R$879.2 billion.  Among the components of the expenditures, Household Consumption Expenditure added up to R$896.1 billion, Government Consumption Expenditure, R$298.3 billion and Gross Fixed Capital Formation, R$254.2 billion. The Goods and Services Account remained meager in R$15.1 billion and the Stock Change remained negative in R$5.3 billion.

In the second quarter of 2015, the investment rate was 17.8% of the GDP, below that reported in the same period last year (19.5%). Also in the second quarter of 2015, the savings rate was 14.4% (against 16.0% in the same period in 2014).