Driven by transport, the services sector, which employs the most in the country, grew 0.6% from August to September, marking eight consecutive months of growth, in which it expanded by 3.3%. Compared to September 2024, there was an increase of 4.1%. In the 12-month period, the positive variation is 3.1%.
These results place the sector at the highest level ever recorded. Since April, services have been reaching record levels of activity. September’s numbers make the sector surpass the pre-covid-19 pandemic period (February 2020) by 19.5%.
The data is part of the Monthly Services Survey, released this Wednesday (12), in Rio de Janeiro, by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
From the second to the third quarter, there was a positive change of 0.9%.
The period of eight consecutive months of increase equals that achieved between February and September 2022, when the country was recovering from the pandemic. However, in the oldest period, accumulated expansion reached 5.6%.
In the eight consecutive months of growth in 2025, September’s result is the second highest, behind only February (0.9%).
The service sector also brings together activities such as tourism, restaurants, beauty salons and information technology and is considered an indicator of the country’s economic behavior. IBGE analyzes the performance of 166 types of services.
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Highlight on transport
Three of the five activities surveyed by IBGE showed growth from August to September:
Transport, storage and mail: 1.2%
Information and communication services: 1.2%
Other services: 1.6%
Services provided to families: -0.5%
Professional and administrative services: -0.6%
The research manager, Rodrigo Lobo, pointed to the transport group ─ responsible for 36.4% of the index ─ as the driving force of the sector in the last eight months, driven especially by cargo transport and passenger air transport.
In the case of passenger air transport, IBGE observes a greater number of people traveling, both due to increases in income and due to the drop in average ticket prices.
“Transport logistics is growing due to the greater sale of goods purchased on e-commerce platforms, which ends up moving the storage of goods, logistics and transport to the final consumer”, explains Lobo.
In 12 months, transport grew 3.1%. The record 2025 harvest is another reason that pushes transport performance upwards.
“There is a direct correlation between the increase in revenue of cargo transport companies (especially road transport) and the increase in the flow of agricultural harvests”, says the IBGE researcher.
Tourism
The Monthly Services Survey also includes the tourist activities index (Iatur), which rose 0.1% in September, compared to the previous month. In the year to date, there is an expansion of 5.7%. In 12 months, the index increased 6.6%.
“This accumulated growth is certainly linked to the performance of air passenger transport”, noted Lobo.
These results leave tourism activities 11.5% above the pre-covid-19 pandemic level (February 2020) and 2% below the highest level ever reached, in December 2024.
Belém, a city that now receives in November the 30th United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP30)showed the biggest increase: 4.9% from August to September.
“It could happen to be due to some type of anticipation of receiving hotel reservations”, suggests Lobo.
The tourist activities index brings together 22 of the 166 service activities investigated in the research and which are linked to tourist activity, such as hotels, travel agencies and air passenger transport.
Information is published from 17 federation units: Ceará, Pernambuco, Bahia, Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Paraná, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, Goiás, Distrito Federal, Amazonas, Pará, Mato Grosso, Alagoas and Rio Grande do Norte.
