The volume of the service sector in Brazil increased by 2.9% in August this year, compared to the previous month. This is the third consecutive increase in the indicator, which has accumulated gains of 11.2% in the period. The data were released today (14) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), in its Monthly Service Survey (PMS).

The increases came after four negative rates, which occurred between February and May this year, mainly due to the covid-19 pandemic. In that period, there was an accumulated loss of 19.8%.

Despite the gains in relation to July, in August there were losses of 10% in comparison with August of last year, of 9% in the accumulated of the year and of 5.3% in the accumulated of 12 months.

From July to August, there were increases in four of the five activities surveyed, with emphasis on services provided to families (33.3%). Growth rates were also observed in transport, auxiliary transport and mail services (3.9%), professional, administrative and complementary services (1%) and other services (0.8%).

On the other hand, there was a drop of 1.4% in information and communication services.

Nominal revenue increased by 3.5% from July to August this year, but registered decreases of 10.4% in comparison with August of last year, 8.2% in the accumulated result for the year and 3.7% accumulated over 12 months.