Services sector in Brazil shrinks by 0.6% in September, after 5 months of growth -IBGE

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The services sector in Brazil shrank 0.6% from August to September this year, informed the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) on Friday (12).

The drop interrupts a sequence of growth rates in the previous five months. In the period, the sector accumulated a high of 6.2%.

With the September result, the sector was 3.7% above the pre-pandemic level, recorded in February last year, but is 8% below the record reached in November 2014. The data are from the Monthly Services Survey (PMS).

Four of the five activities investigated by the survey followed the decline, especially transportation (-1.9%), which had the sharpest negative rate since April 2020.

According to the survey manager, Rodrigo Lobo, the decline in the transport sector was influenced by falls in air passenger transport – due to the 28.19% increase in the price of airline tickets – in road freight transport and rail freight.

The other activities that fell in the period were other services (-4.7%), information and communication (-0.9%), and professional, administrative, and complimentary services (-1.1%).