Czech construction is the sixth worst in the EU this year

Prague - The performance of Czech construction was the sixth worst among 28 EU countries in the first three quarters of this year. This is indicated by data from the European statistical office Eurostat. According to them, Czech construction decreased by 8.9% year-on-year by the end of September.

Greece experienced the highest success, with construction increasing by more than one-fifth year-on-year. This was followed by Ireland and Sweden. The worst off were Slovenia, Hungary, and Latvia, with a year-on-year decline of about one-fifth.

"The reason for the decline in construction in the Czech Republic is primarily the lack of orders, especially from the public sector. The boom in spending European funds last year is long gone, and new projects are starting only very slowly," stated ČSOB analyst Petr Dufek.

According to data from the Czech Statistical Office, Czech construction declined by 9.8% year-on-year in the first nine months of this year. Civil engineering, mainly consisting of transport infrastructure projects, fell by 15.9%.

Eight countries with the largest year-on-year declines belong to the former Eastern Bloc. Almost all are significant recipients of European subsidies. "The problem these countries face is the high comparative base in civil engineering from last year. At that time, they were utilizing funds from European funds from the previous programming period and completing large ongoing investments. There are, of course, other growth limitations, but they are rather specific to each country," added Jiří Vacek, director of the analytical company CEEC Research.

According to Václav Matyáš, president of the Union of Entrepreneurs in Construction in the Czech Republic, no improvement can be expected in Czech construction next year. "Besides the results of construction production, we already know the titles and volumes of awarded public contracts. It can already be predicted today that it will be a big surprise if next year is not even more dramatic. So far, their volume is 15 percent lower in building construction and 37% in civil engineering," he stated.

Development of construction in EU countries until the end of September

Country	Index
Greece	21.5%
Ireland	17.9%
Sweden	13.3%
Cyprus	9.1%
Netherlands	6.9%
Finland	6.1%
Spain	5.5%
Denmark	5.2%
Romania	3.4%
Luxembourg	3.3%
Estonia	2.7%
Croatia	1.9%
United Kingdom	1.8%
Germany	1.2%
Austria	0.8%
Italy	0.1%
Malta	-0.3%
Belgium	-0.5%
France	-1.3%
Portugal	-4.0%
Slovakia	-6.9%
Bulgaria	-8.8%
Czech Republic	-8.9%
Lithuania	-13.8%
Poland	-13.8%
Latvia	-19.7%
Hungary	-20.5%
Slovenia	-22.1%

Source: Eurostat