Costa Rica: Construction Fell 13% in 2017

The builders' association has reported that 6.4 million square meters were processed in 2017, 13% less than in 2016.

Monday, January 29, 2018

In a statement from the Costa Rican Chamber of Construction (CCC), the president of the organization, Jorge Arturo González, said that "... 'this slowdown highlights the need to boost private sector investment in construction, which has stopped not only because of political uncertainty, typical of an election year, but also due to excessive procedures, high financing costs, legal uncertainty, low competitiveness in infrastructure and high construction costs, among other things'." See report by the CCC (in Spanish).

Although there is a slight difference, the figures recently reported by the Central Bank coincide with those of the union.  See "Costa Rica: Construction closes 2017 with negative figures".

See also "Central America: What will be built in 2018?"

In relation to the new issues of bank loans for construction, it is estimated that in 2017 the figure fell by around 9% in entities such as the Bank of Costa Rica, because in a response provided to Nacion.com they indicated that " ... the portfolio for the construction sector added around ¢14,000 million ($24 million) in 2017, in new issues, against around ¢15,000 million ($26 million) in 2016."

Despite the fall registered by the union, the construction entrepreneurs themselves  "... do not believe that 2017 was such a bad year. 'I wish it would always keep growing, but the construction goes in cycles and there have been very high increases in the last two years,' said Randall Murillo, executive director of the CCC."

Regarding what is expected in the sector in 2018, Nacion.com reports that " ... both the Federated College of Engineers and Architects (CFIA) and the CCC consider that the fall in 2017 could be maintained in the first months of this year, influenced by the electoral political environment, an effect that could be overcome later. "
 

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