Airline passenger transport prices rose by 8.5% in the first quarter compared with the same period in 2021, marking the largest annual increase since the first quarter of 2009, according to the National Institute of Statistics. INE
Two of the fifteen service sector activities used by INE to calculate the annual rate of change in the first quarter climbed to thirteen.
The Service Sector Price Index demonstrates quarterly trends in the prices of services, including those sold to companies from the producer’s perspective. It captures how price dynamics vary across different sectors within the service economy.
Beyond the overall rises, passenger air transportation stands out with an 8.5% annual increase. This was almost 2.5 percentage points higher than the previous quarter. Advertising also posted a notable change, with its annual rate shifting by 6.5 percentage points to minus 2.5% in the same period.
Only two activities reduced their annual rates: market research, which fell by nearly two percentage points to 2.1%, and information services, which saw a 0.2 percentage point drop from the prior quarter.
The surplus is rising
The service industry’s surplus continued to grow, rising to 66.8% as export activity surged by more than 28%. Exports reached 4,985.8 million euros in the first quarter, up from the same quarter a year earlier, according to the International Trade in Services Survey released by INE.
Exports increased by 28.1% year over year to 20,112.8 million euros in the first quarter, while imports rose by 19% to 15,127 million euros. The strongest export drivers included public transport, telecommunications, computer and information services, and business services.
In the transportation sector, foreign sales topped 4,951 million euros, up 25.3% from the first quarter of 2021. Commercial services totaled 6,637.1 million euros, an increase of 28.2%, and telecommunications services grew by 25.5% to reach 3,137 million euros.
Between January and March, no sector contributed negatively to service exports. The smallest positive contributions came from government goods and services with 22.3 million euros, followed by construction with 214 million euros, and financial services with exports of 589.6 million euros, up 18.8% from the first quarter of 2021.
Import contribution
On the import side, the most positive drivers for growth in the first quarter included telecommunications, which contributed 2,237.2 million euros, up 12.2% year over year; overall imports reached 5,237.7 million euros; business services grew 29.4%; and transportation imports rose 3,738.8 million euros, up 27%.
The industries with the most negative contributions to import growth were insurance and pensions, which reduced imports by 2.9% to 1,671.1 million euros; personal, cultural and recreational services with imports of 102 million euros, down 0.7%; and construction with a 13.9% decrease to 19.4 million euros.
Geographically, in the first quarter service exports were primarily destined for Europe, totaling 13,070.9 million euros, with 8,964.9 million euros going to the European Union. Of that amount, eurozone allocations stood at 8,289.5 million euros.
Regarding imports, European origin accounted for 11,079.3 million euros, with 8,264.2 million euros from the EU and 7,523.9 million euros from the euro area in total purchases.