Billing for services and industry grew by almost 13% in January and broke five months of moderation. The turnover of the service sector grew by 12.9% in the annual rate in January 2023, which is 1.7 points more than in December, and that of industry also rose by 12.8%, 3.2 points more. This is clear from the data published today by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), which reflect that both services and industry add up to 23 months of year-on-year growth after the shock caused by the pandemic.

Specifically, commerce invoiced last January 12.5% ​​more than in the same month of 2022, while other services increased their sales by 14% year-on-year, especially driven by the hotel industry (+26.8%) and administrative, scientific and technical activities, which increased their turnover by 17.6% year-on-year. Within the hotel industry, accommodation services increased their sales by 49.3%, while food and beverage services billed 20.1% more than in January 2022.

By activity, the greatest increases in sales were recorded by travel agencies and tour operators (+93.5%) and air transport, which increased by 66.5%.

In monthly terms (January 2023 compared to December 2022) and in seasonally and calendar-adjusted data, the services sector registered a monthly decrease in sales of 0.5% at the start of the year, thus already chaining two consecutive months setbacks after the one experienced in December 2022 (-1.1%).

For the twenty-second consecutive month, employment in the services sector grew last January, and it did so at an interannual rate of 1.7%, a rate three tenths lower than that of December. The Balearic Islands was the community that increased job creation the most in the service sector last January, with an interannual rise of 6.3%, while the Canary Islands was the region that increased sales the most, a 28.3% rate yoy

For its part, industry was boosted by sales from the energy sector, which increased by 24.4%, followed by consumer goods (+20%), capital goods (+17.6%) and intermediate goods (+2.9%). By geographic destination of sales, it can be seen that all markets posted positive annual rates in December. The 13.6% increase in the non-euro area of ​​the foreign market stands out.

By autonomous communities, the turnover index increased in 16 autonomous communities and decreased in one. The largest increases occurred in the Canary Islands (29.5%), Región de Murcia (21.6%) and Aragón (18.2%). The only decrease was registered in Asturias (-1.8%).

In monthly and seasonally adjusted terms, the industry cut its sales by 0.9%, in contrast to the monthly increases of 2.2% and 0.4% registered in November and December 2022, respectively.

Follow all the information of Five days in Facebook, Twitter and Linkedinor in our newsletter Five Day Agenda