Spanish building sector output growth has shuddered to a halt, according to the EU statistics office Eurostat.
Production in the Spanish construction sector went down by 8 per cent in March, compared to the same month in 2014, and by 1.4 per cent compared to February. Both negative
figures were the highest falls in Europe for the period.
This represents a setback for a multi-month upward trend in Spanish construction during which Spain led Europe on several occasions. In January, for example, Spain delivered the biggest growth in European construction activity with 14.4 per cent, falling to 3.3 per cent in February.
In year-on-year terms, building production fell in March by 2.7 per cent in the Eurozone, and by 1.3 per cent in the EU as a whole. After Spain, the biggest drops were in France (down 5.3 per cent) and Slovenia (down 4 per cent). In complete contrast, the highest increases were registered in Romania (13.3 per cent), Hungary (12.7 per cent) and Holland (11.5 per cent).
In the Eurozone countries, the decreases were due to a drop in the construction of buildings (down 4 per cent), partially compensated for by the increase in civil engineering construction (up 2.5 per cent). As regards the UE, the decrease was caused by the 2.7 per cent drop in the construction of buildings despite the increase in civil engineering work (4.7 per cent).
