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Press Release 17/02/2017

SERVICES INDEX. IV/2016

Market Services close out 2016 with a profit

Sales in Trade rose by 3.3% in 2016, with sales in Other Market Services rising by 1.8% in real terms

The Trade sector, which comprises Wholesale Trade, Retail Trade and the Sale & Repair of Vehicles, saw sales increase by 0.9% in the fourth quarter of 2016 in constant terms, whereas the sectors that come under Other Services saw a decrease in sales of 0.7%, and this is all in relation to the same quarter of the previous year.

The Trade sector fell by 0.5% compared with the previous quarter, whilst Other Services saw a decrease of 0.1%, at constant prices and once any seasonal effects had been eliminated.

The year-on-year trends within Trade were positive for the Sale & Repair of Motor Vehicles, which were up by 6.7%, as well as for Wholesale Trade sales, which rose by 1.2%, whilst Retail Trade sales fell by 0.1%.

In the Other Services sector, the sales index for Administrative Activities & Auxiliary Services rose by 4.5% and the Hotel Management & Catering sector was up by 3.1% in constant terms. Information & Communications grew by 1.6% and Scientific & Technical Professional Activities increased by 0.7%. On the other hand, the Transport & Storage sector registered a fall of 2.7%.

By province, Álava saw sales in Trade fall by 0.2% and Other Services rose by 0.8%; Bizkaia saw both sales in Trade and Other Services increase by 1.1%; and, lastly, Gipuzkoa experienced an increase of 1.0% in Trade and sales in Other Services rose by 0.1%. This is all in relation to the fourth quarter of 2015 once the price effect had been discounted.

The index of employed people in the Basque Country rose on a year-on-year basis for both indexes, with a 0.6% rise in the Trade sector and a 1.6% increase in the index for Other Services.

Table 1. Service Index of the Basque Country. Year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter growth rates (p). IV/2016
Source: Eustat. Service Index

ANNUAL BALANCE 2016

There was an accumulated increase of 3.3% in Trade sector sales and a rise of 1.8% in Other Services in real terms for the year overall.

The Market Services sector performed positively in all three provinces. Trade sector sales rose by 2.9% in Álava, with Other Services registering an increase of 2.0%; in Bizkaia, Trade grew by 3.2% meanwhile, the Other Services sector saw an increase of 2.1%; and, lastly, in Gipuzkoa, the Trade sector sales index went up by 3.8% with Other Services also rising by 1.2%, all at constant prices.

The number of employed people in the Trade sector was up by 0.8% in 2016, compared to average of the previous year. The index also rose by 2.1% in the Other Services sector.

Table 1. Service Index of the Basque Country. Year-on-year growth rates
Source: Eustat. Service Index