SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Lady Gaga’s concert that drew over 2 million people to Rio de Janeiro likely provided a boost to Brazil’s services activity, statistics agency IBGE said on Friday, as it reported the key sector had expanded for a third consecutive month in April.
As fans flocked to Rio for the free concert at Copacabana Beach on May 3, the transport sector helped drive services activity in Latin America’s largest economy up 0.2% in April from March, despite stiflingly high interest rates, IBGE said.
“Advanced ticket purchases for the Lady Gaga concert may have influenced the April results. The concert was in May, but ticket purchases were made ahead of it,” said the agency’s research analyst, Luiz Almeida, also noting that May 1 was a national holiday.
On a yearly basis, services activity grew 1.8% in April, roughly in line with forecasts from economists polled by Reuters.
Rio de Janeiro’s city government estimated that 2.1 million people attended Lady Gaga’s show, part of its efforts to bring superstars to perform at free events that authorities say lift the local economy.
Brazilian airlines had previously said they saw a boost in demand related to the concert, operating more flights to Rio’s main airports that were close to full.
Transport activity in Brazil expanded 0.5% in April from the previous month, according to IBGE, standing out as the only one of the five main groups surveyed to have posted positive results in the period.
The South American country had experienced a similar episode in late 2023, when IBGE reported that the six-show Brazilian leg of Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” boosted event-related activities.
The service sector is the main driver of Brazil’s economy, and the positive April figures came as the country shows signs of a slowdown amid high borrowing costs, with its benchmark interest rate standing at a near 20-year-high of 14.75%.
(Reporting by Rodrigo Viga Gaier in Rio de Janeiro, Camila Moreira and Gabriel Araujo in Sao Paulo; Editing By Aida Pelaez-Fernandez)
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