Illustrative stock photo (source: SITA)
Slovakia reported the highest monthly drop in construction output in the European Union. This stems from the data provided by the European statistics office, Eurostat.
Seasonally adjusted construction output of the eurozone strengthened by 0.1 percent month-on-month in December 2017 and by 0.6 percent in the entire 28-member EU.
In annual terms, the construction production in the eurozone increased by 0.5 percent and across the EU by 1.5 percent. Over the past year, the eurozone construction boosted by 2.4 percent and across the EU by 3.5 percent, the SITA newswire reported.
In Slovakia, the construction sector fell by 5.5 percent in December 2017 compared to the previous month, which was the steepest month-on-month decline among the countries from which Eurostat had data available.
The second steepest drop was reported by Spain (4.4 percent), followed by Bulgaria (3 percent).
The output might slightly increase this year
As for Slovakia, the construction output dropped in both monitored areas: the construction of buildings and the infrastructure.
“Despite weak December numbers, the increase in both industry and construction accelerated in the final quarter of 2017,” Ľubomír Koršňák, analyst with UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia, wrote in a memo.
The construction field has reported the strongest annual growth since early 2016, when it was still impacted by the EU funds, he added.
Koršňák opines that in following months, construction will benefit from the boom in the buildings construction segment, as well as the launch of some infrastructure construction, like the Bratislava ring road project.
“Conversely, no new highway section will probably be put in use this year,” Koršňák continued, adding this might slightly decrease the construction output. “Overall, the construction will keep a moderate annual increase in output this year.”
