Sales in the Brazilian economy grow in May, says Revenue

The volume of sales in the Brazilian economy rose in May compared to the previous months, reported on Thursday (4) the Irs. The information is based on electronic invoices issued. By this parameter, the movement returned to the levels observed before the beginning of social isolation measures, motivated by the coronavirus pandemic. Sales volume, however, is still lower than in May 2019. According to the bulletin "Impacts of Covid-19", the daily average sales exceeded R$ 20 billion in the months of January to March, falling to R$ 19 billion in April, and advancing to R$ 21.1 billion in May. Against May 2019, however, sales fell 15.2% in real terms last month. When the comparison is made for weeks, the figures of the Tax Office show that sales reached R $ 180 billion in the last week of May - the highest value since the fourth week of February, when the same figure was recorded. "The amounts of electronic invoices (NFe) issued have been rising since Week 13, when the Covid-19 shock occurred, reaching levels prior to containment measures," the agency added. Social distancing measures began to be implemented in March in Brazil. The pandemic was declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the 11th of that month, and Brazilian states began to announce measures of social distancing, progressively, from that moment on - when the Federal District announced the suspension of classes. On March 13, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro announced measures to limit the movement and concentration of people. Classes and public events were suspended, and containment measures for the new coronavirus were being expanded in the following weeks by the states of the federation. The IRS figures show strong growth in e-commerce in recent months, a result of the process of social distancing. "In 2020, e-commerce had increasing sales in quantity and volume. The upward trend intensified in March. The percentage variations in value were +9.3% in March, +3.3% in April, and +18.3% in May," the agency said. Revenue added that sales by electronic channels also grew compared to last year - advancing 20.4% in March, 17.2% in April and 40.7% in May. The Tax Office also reported that, after containment and quarantine measures to combat the new coronavirus, all regions of Brazil had a drop in daily sales volume in April, compared to March. The largest decline was recorded in the Southeast region (-22.6%). "In May, both quantities and figures showed an upward trend in all regions," the report added.