Construction sector picks up speed and grows by 2.6%.
Construction output rose by 2.6% in October compared to the same period last year. This growth is due to the acceleration in the building construction segment, which offset the slowdown in the Civil Engineering sector, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE).
This rate of growth is the fastest since at least March 2006, the last month for which data is available, writes Jornal de Negócios.
According to INE, the construction of buildings was the sector that saw the greatest acceleration, rising from a 0.9% increase to 1.2% between September and October. However, Civil Engineering still had the highest growth (4.8%), even though there was a slight slowdown (4.9% in September).
The employment index also increased by 2.7% compared to the same period last year, as did the wages index, which rose by 4.1% - the highest growth in nine years. The construction sector thus continues to show solid signs of recovery after a long period of crisis.
We should remember the latest forecasts from the Institute for Economic Research (Ifo), which revealed that Portugal will experience a period of strong expansion in the sector over the next three years. An expected increase of 15% between the beginning of 2018 and the end of 2020, which will be the fifth strongest in Europe (in a group of 19 countries).