GDP grows 1.1% and closes 2019 at R$ 7.3 trillion

It was the third year with a positive result, after increases of 1.3% in 2017 and 2018. GDP per capita varied by 0.3%, in real terms, reaching R$ 34,533 in 2019.

“Three years of positive results. But the GDP still hasn't canceled out the fall of 2015 and 2016 and is at the same level as the first quarter of 2013. The biggest contribution to the GDP growth comes from household consumption, which grew by 1.8%. On the supply side, the highlight was the services sector, which represents two thirds of the economy”. notes Rebeca Palis, coordinator of the IBGE's National Accounts.

Rebeca clarified that the inclusion of external sector data, sent late in the third quarter, did not impact the GDP result in 2019. “It only affected exports, as the external sector continued to contribute negatively. While domestic demand contributed 1.7% to the result, the external sector dropped by 0.5%,” he explained.

The services sector grew by 1.3%, followed by information and communication activities (4.1%), real estate activities (2.3%), commerce (1.8%), other service activities (1.3%), activities financial, insurance and related services (1.0%) and transport, storage and mail (0.2%). Activity in administration, defense, public health and education and social security (0.0%) remained stagnant in the year.

In the industrial sector, electricity, water, gas, sewage, and waste management activities grew by 1.9% compared to the 2018 period, driven by 1.6% growth in construction. The partial negative occurred in extractive industries, with a drop of 1.1% in the year. Manufacturing industries were flat at, 0.1%.

“The industry behaved differently compared to 2018, driven by growth in construction, after five years of negative performance. The manufacturing industry, which had grown more in 2018, was stagnant in 2019”, explained Rebeca Palis.

In agriculture, which has a weight of only 5% in the GDP calculation, the highlights were cotton crops (39.8%), oranges (5.6%) and beans (2.2%). And corn crops that recorded a good growth of 23.6% and a significant gain in productivity; there was negative variation in crops such as coffee (-16.6%), rice (-12.6%), soybean (-3.7%) and sugarcane (-1.0%). In livestock, the performance in 2019 was positively influenced by the closer trade relationship with China, due to swine fever in the Asian country.

The investment rate in 2019 was 15.4% of GDP, slightly above that observed in the previous year (15.2%). The savings rate was 12.2% in 2019, 2% less than in 2018.

Regarding domestic demand, there was an increase of 1.8% in household consumption, and 2.2% in gross fixed capital formation. Government consumption retreated by 0.4%.

In the fourth quarter of 2019, GDP advanced by 0.5% compared to the third quarter of the year. This being the ninth consecutive positive record in this comparison. Services and industry had a positive change of 0.6% and 0.2%, respectively. While agriculture had a decrease of 0.4%. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2018, GDP advanced by 1.7%, in its twelfth consecutive positive result, after eleven quarters of decline on the same basis of comparison.