Brazilian services sector grows 0.7 percent in April

Brazil’s services sector — the backbone of the country’s economy — enjoyed a positive performance in April, growing 0.7 percent from March. Still, the sector remains 1.5 percent below pre-pandemic levels.

In a year-to-year comparison, last month’s performance represented an increase of 19.8 percent. This is the biggest jump on record — but is largely due to abysmal April 2020 results, when most states enforced Covid-19 restrictions.

According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the sector remains -5.4 percent down on a 12-month basis, despite having grown 3.7 percent since January.

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