Brazil grows 1.2% within the 2nd quarter, above expectations; excessive is 2.5% within the yr

The Brazilian GDP (Gross Domestic Product) recorded a rise for the fourth consecutive quarter since 2021, driven by the rise in the service sector. According to data released this Thursday (1st) by the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), the growth was 1.2% compared to the first quarter of this year, totaling R$ 2.4 trillion in current values. In 2022, the first half accumulates a high of 2.5%.

Compared to the same quarter of 2021, the growth is 3.2%, according to the IBGE.

As a result, the country’s economic activity is 3% above the pre-pandemic level, recorded in the fourth quarter of 2019, and reaches the second highest level in the series, only behind that achieved in the first quarter of 2014.

The quarter’s performance was above the expectations of experts. According to Reuters, an increase of 0.9% was expected over the last three months.

The three sectors of the economy — industry, services and agriculture — had a rise in the quarterbut, according to the IBGE, the service sector was the one that most weighed on the result, with growth of 1.3%.

“Services are weighing 70% of the economy, so they have a greater impact on this result. Within services, other service activities (3.3%), transport (3.0%) and information and communication (2.9%) advanced and led to this increase. In other service activities, there are face-to-face services, which were dammed during the pandemic, such as restaurants and hotels, for example”, explains the coordinator of National Accounts at IBGE, Rebeca Palis.

Industry has higher

According to the IBGE, the industry rose 2.2%, with an increase in all subsectors. Highlight for the positive performance of 3.1% in the activities of electricity, gas, water, sewage and waste management; 2.7% in construction; and 2.2% in extractive industries.

“There was growth in all subsectors of the industry. One of them is civil construction, which has been facing problems for years and was greatly affected by the pandemic, but has been recovering for a few quarters,” said Palis.

Agro rises, but keeps falling in the year

Agriculture rose 0.5%, after falling 0.9% in the last quarter. In the year, however, the sector still accumulates a fall of 2.5%. According to the IBGE, this can be attributed to the low performance of products such as soybeans (-12%) and rice (-8.5%), which showed a drop in the annual production estimate.

Corn and coffee recorded growth in 2022, estimated at 27% and 8.6%, respectively.

Household consumption grew

Household consumption grew 2.6% between April and June, the highest since the fourth quarter of 2020, when it was 3.1%.

“The rise in household consumption is related to the return to growth of services provided to families, as a result of face-to-face services that are with dammed demand in the pandemic. A reflection of this is the increase in the price of airline tickets, a consequence of the growth in demand”, analyzed Palis.

The government estimates that the Brazilian GDP should grow 2% this year, according to the latest bulletin from the SPE (Secretariat of Economic Policy of the Ministry of Economy).

Ministry of Economy celebrates

In a note, the Ministry of Economy celebrated the GDP result for the second half of the year, attributed to the recovery of the services sector and the job market.

The unemployment rate stood at 9.1% in the quarter from May to July, reaching 9.9 million people, according to data released on Wednesday (31) by the IBGE. The result, however, was driven by the growth in the number of informal workers, which broke the record of the historical series and reached 13.1 million people in the period.

“The indicators show the good performance of services, the recovery of employment and the rate of investments at high levels. Services are at the best level since 2015, investments have recovered to the level of 2014 and the unemployment rate is the lowest since 2015,” he said.

GDP represents the performance of a country’s economy during a given period. Measured by the IBGE, it is released every three months.

(With Reuters)

Source: Uol