Services is the sector that grew the most in the 3rd quarter

The services sector remained in the third quarter of 2022 as the main driver of growth in the Brazilian economy.

The IBGE released this Thursday (1st) the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) data for the quarter ended in September, which showed expansion of 0.4% in relation to the previous three months.

With a weight of almost 70% in GDP, services grew 1.1% in the quarter. Agriculture fell by 0.9%. The sector accounts for 8% of the value added to GDP. The industry grew by 0.8%.

In services, the growth of the information and communication segments (3.6%), with the rise of software development and internet services, financial, insurance and related activities (1.5%), real estate (1. 4%) and other activities (1.4%), which include services provided to families. Trade (-0.1%) had a negative change, which reflects the reallocation of household consumption from goods to services, according to the IBGE.

“The other service activities have been recovering for some time now, with the resumption of face-to-face services that had a dammed demand during the pandemic”, says the coordinator of National Accounts at the IBGE, Rebeca Palis.

The retraction of agriculture, according to Palis, is explained by the crops that have a relevant harvest in this quarter and had a drop in production, as is the case of sugarcane and cassava.

In the accumulated result for the year, the agricultural sector fell 1.5%, a performance linked to the results of soy, whose production was affected by climate problems, says Rebeca.

Among industrial activities, there was a rise of 1.1% in construction and 0.6% in electricity and gas, water, sewage, waste management activities. Manufacturing industries had a positive change of 0.1% and, in mining and quarrying, a negative change of 0.1%.

In comparison with the same period of 2021, Agriculture grew 3.2%, Industry recorded a rise of 2.8%. Services rose by 4.5%.