Brazil Services Activity Broadly Stagnates In March

(RTTNews) - Brazil's service sector activity remained virtually stalled in March amid renewed decline in new orders along with intense cost pressures, survey results published by S&P Global showed on Monday.

The seasonally adjusted S&P Global Brazil Services Business Activity Index dropped to 50.1 in March from 53.1 in February. Nonetheless, a score above 50 indicates expansion.

The survey revealed that the month of March proved challenging for Brazilian service providers, as the war in the Middle East drove up fuel prices and brought renewed inflationary pressures.

New orders fell for the first time in five months due to demand retrenchment and lower customer onboarding as higher borrowing costs squeezed household incomes.

On the price front, input price inflation rose to a 4-month high, linked to higher costs for beverages, food, freight, fuel, labor, other services, and software. As a result, selling price inflation rose to the strongest since October 2025.

On a positive note, employment across Brazil's service economy increased for the second straight month, though moderate overall.

Looking ahead, companies remained confident about output expectations over the next twelve months, but the degree of sentiment eased as the optimism was dampened by concerns around competition, inflationary pressures, the presidential elections, high borrowing costs, and tax hikes.

The composite output index decreased to 49.9 in March from 51.3 in February, indicating slight contraction across the Brazilian private sector economy.