Press Release 13/09/2017
Hotel Management & Catering, Technical Services and Trade led the increases in the Services sector in the second quarter of 2017 in the Basque Country
Trade, including the Sale and Repair of Vehicles, rose by 1.1% in real terms, whereas Other Services grew by 2.0%
The Trade sector, which comprises Wholesale Trade, Retail Trade and the Sale & Repair of Vehicles, saw sales increase by 1.1% in the second quarter of 2017 in constant terms, whereas the sectors that come under Other Services saw an increase in sales of 2.0%, all in relation to the same quarter of the previous year, according to data prepared by Eustat.
Over the first six months of the year as a whole, the Trade sector registered an increase of 1.6%, once the price effect had been discounted, whilst Other Services as a whole stood at 2.0%, led by Hotel Management & Catering, with an accumulative growth of 6.1% so far this year.
Compared with the previous quarter, both the Trade and Other Services sectors saw rises of 0.5% and 0.8%, respectively, at constant prices and once any seasonal effects had been eliminated.
Within Trade, the year-on-year evolution was positive, above all in Wholesale Trade, up 1.7%; Retail Trade also showed an upturn, with an increase of 1.2%; however, sales in the Sale & Repair of Motor Vehicles sector fell by 0.4%.
In the Other Services sector, the sales index (in constant terms) rose by 5.6% for the branch of Hotel Management & Catering, 3.1% for the branch of Scientific & Technical Professional Activities, 1.0% for the branch of Information and Communications and 0.8% for the branch of Transport & Storage. On the other hand Administrative Activities & Auxiliary Services fell by 3.1%.
By province, the Trade sector registered an upward trend in real terms in Álava and Gipuzkoa, with increases of 4.0% and 1.9%, respectively. In Bizkaia, however, the trend was downward, as the sales index dropped by 0.3%. For Other Services as a whole, the evolution of the second quarter in real terms was positive in all three provinces, with growth of 1.6% for Álava, 2.5% for Bizkaia and 1.3% for Gipuzkoa. This is all in relation to the second quarter of 2016 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 1.6% rise in the Trade sector and a 3.3% increase in the index for Other Services. Compared to the first quarter of 2017, the index increased by 0.5% in the Trade sector and by 1.3% in Other Services, all in deseasonalised terms.
For further information:
Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Instituto Vasco de Estadística
C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz
Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.eus Tel: 945 01 75 62