GDP Monitor: Brazilian economy shrank 1.5% in May

The GDP Monitor, released by FGV’s Brazilian Institute of Economics (IBRE), shows, in the series with seasonal adjustment, a decrease of 1.5% in economic activity in May, compared to April, and a 1.0% decrease in the moving quarter ended in May, compared to the quarter ended in February. In the year-over-year comparison, economic activity was down 1.8% in May and up 0.5% in the moving quarter ended in May.

“In the comparison with the same month of the previous year, the economy suffered a sharp drop (-1.8%) in May, due to the effects of the truck drivers’ strike, which took place in the last ten days of the month. This strike took its biggest toll from the industrial processing activities (-9.1%), interrupting a ten-month rising trend; and in construction (-4.5%). The most affected service sectors were transport (-14.6%) and trade (-4.4%).

The margin result in May followed the same downward trend seen in the year-over-year result (-1.5%). In the industrial activity, the processing (-11.3%) and construction (-4.4%) sectors stood out. The highlights in the services sector were transport (-14.5%) and trade (-3.9%). From the point of view of demand, both in year-over-year and marginal comparisons, the downturn was steeper in household consumption activities (-0.3% AsA, -0.8% MsM) and gross fixed capital formation (-7.8% AsA, -11.7% MsM)”, said Claudio Considera, Coordinator of the IBRE’s GDP Monitor. 

The complete study is available, in Portuguese, on this website.