LatinNews Daily - 18 October 2023

* Brazil’s national statistics institute (Ibge) has released the latest figures for the country's services sector, which show a monthly contraction of 0.9% in August. This comes after the sector saw three consecutive months of expansion, registering an accumulated growth rate of 2.1% from May-July. Four of the five categories measured showed a monthly drop in activity in August. The categories which saw the greatest contraction were services for families (-3.8%) and transport (-2.1%). Out of all the services measured, storage & auxiliary transport services (within the transport category) registered the greatest monthly contraction (-5.5%). In the Ibge’s press release, research coordinator Rodrigo Lobo said that transport & storage services were much higher in the first half of the year due to the “dynamism” of the agricultural sector. However, in the second half of the year, agricultural production tends to slow down, which decreases the demand for transport and storage.