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Press Release 16/02/2018

SERVICES INDEX. IV/2017

Market Services close out 2017 with a profit

Sales in Trade rose by 1.7% in 2017, 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 2.2% in the fourth quarter of 2017 in constant terms, whereas the sectors that come under Other Services saw a decrease in sales of 1.9%, and this is all in relation to the same quarter of the previous year.

The Trade sector rose by 0.2% compared with the previous quarter, whilst Other Services saw an increase of 0.5%, 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 4.7%, as well as for Wholesale Trade sales, which rose by 2.8%, whilst Retail Trade sales fell by 0.1%.

In the section Other Services, in constant terms, the sales index for Scientific & Technical Professional Activities and Hotel Management & Catering was up by 2.7%, in the Transport & Storage sector it increased by 2.3% and in the Administrative Activities & Auxiliary Services sector it rose by 2.2%. On the other hand, Information & Communications registered a fall of 2.3%.

By province, Álava saw sales in Trade rise by 3.5% and sales in Other Services increase by 1.1%; in Bizkaia sales in Trade grew by 1.2% and in Other Services by 2.4%; and in Gipuzkoa sales in Trade rose by 3.2% and in Other Services by 1.1%. This is all in relation to the fourth 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 1.4% rise in the Trade sector and a 2.2% increase in the index for Other Services.

ANNUAL BALANCE 2017

There was an accumulated increase of 1.7% 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 2.8% in Álava, with Other Services registering an increase of 1.2%; in Bizkaia, Trade grew by 1.3% meanwhile, the Other Services sector saw an increase of 2.1%; and, lastly, in Gipuzkoa, the Trade sector sales index went up by 1.9% with Other Services also rising by 1.5%, all at constant prices.

The number of employed people in the Trade sector was up by 1.4% in 2017, compared to average of the previous year. The index also rose by 2.1% in the Other Services sector.