By Lise Alves, Senior Contributing Reporter
SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – The volume of the services industry in Brazil fell by 4.5 percent in April, compared to the same period of 2015, with negative variations in all of the segments. According to a report released today (June 15th) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), however, the nominal revenues for the sector grew by 0.4 percent in April of 2016 in comparison to the same month last year.
April’s results come after similarly disappointing results in March (-5.9 percent) and February (-3.9 percent). With the latest results, therefore, the services industry registered an accumulated decline of 4.9 percent in volume for the first four months of the year, but with an expansion of 0.5 percent in nominal revenues for the same time period.
For the twelve-month period ending in April the accumulated decrease was of 4.6 percent for the sector with a volume growth of 0.6 percent for nominal revenue.
The drop in the volume of services was seen in all of the six segments evaluated by the IBGE survey. The largest decreases were observed in transport, auxiliary transport and postal services (-6.5 percent) and professional, administrative and complementary services (-5.4 percent).
Regionally, compared to the same month last year, the biggest positive changes in April were seen in the states of Rondônia (7.2 percent) and Tocantins and Roraima, both with 6.5 percent. The largest negative changes in volume were observed in Amazonas (-15.3 percent) and Amapá (-12.3 percent).
Among tourism activities, the largest positive volume changes were observed in Pernambuco (4.5 percent) and Rio de Janeiro (0.5 percent) while the smallest volume changes occurred in Santa Catarina (-12.8 percent), Paraná (-12.6 percent), and Bahia (-11.0 percent).