RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Brazilian Economic Institute of the Getulio Vargas Foundation’s (FGV/Ibre) Services Sector Confidence Index (ICS) rose 5.7 points in June to 93.8 points, reaching the third high of the year and the highest value since February 2020. In quarterly moving averages, the index increased 5.4 points.
This month, the SCI reached its highest level since February last year (94.4 points) with widespread increases across the 13 segments surveyed. The index of current conditions (ISA-S) increased 4.7 points to 88.7 points, reaching the highest level since February 2020 (90.2 points). The expectations index (IE-S) increased by 6.7 points to 99.1 points, reaching its highest level since January 2020 (100.9 points).
The latest positive service confidence results show that the sector is approaching pre-pandemic levels. Analyzing the quarterly moving average, we can see that after a weaker start to 2021, the sector recorded a positive change again, the highest since the beginning of the recovery, when the result was strongly influenced by the comparison base.
The increase in this quarter reached all the main segments, except for information and communication, whose result was positive in the first quarter, unlike the others. “The continuity of this recovery depends on the control of the pandemic and, consequently, on the gradual relaxation of restrictive measures on the traffic and operation of establishments,” adds Tobler.