The business volume in services grew by 3.7% in May, year-on-year, highlighted by the real estate activities, which surged by 30.1%, announced today the National Statistics Institute (INE).
According to the statistical institute, the business volume index in services “registered a year-on-year variation of 3.7%, reflecting a deceleration of 1.0 percentage point (p.p.) compared to the previous month”.
The greatest contribution to the year-on-year variation rate of the index came from real estate activities, contributing 1.4 p.p., after a gain in business volume of around 30.1%, with an acceleration of 17.7 p.p. compared to April.
Significant contributions also came from transportation and storage (1.3 p.p. following a year-on-year growth of 4.9%) and accommodation, restaurants, and similar sectors (1.0 p.p. after a rise of 4.6%).
Information and communication activities (0.3 p.p., growth of 2.1%) and administrative activities and support services (0.2 p.p., increase of 1.3%) had more modest growths.
In contrast, consultancy, scientific, technical, and similar activities were the only ones with a negative contribution to the business volume index in services, with a year-on-year decrease of 3.3% representing a negative contribution of 0.5 p.p.
Not adjusted for seasonality and calendar effects, the index accelerated from a year-on-year change of 3.7% in April to 3.9% in May.
In May, the employment and remuneration indices grew by 2.8% and 9.4%, respectively, compared to 3.9% and 10.8% in April.
In monthly terms, the total index variation was 1.0% in May, compared with 0.9% in the previous month and 2.0% in May the previous year.
The employment index increased by 0.7% sequentially (1.7% variation in the same month of 2024), while the remuneration index grew by 2.1% monthly, against 3.4% a year earlier.
