In the first quarter of 2012 the number of square meters of processed construction increased by 15% compared to the same period in 2011.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
The data has been released by the Association of Engineers and Architects (CFIA in Spanish).
The province of San Jose leads with the largest amount of square meters, totaling 840,292 m2, or one third of everything processed in Costa Rica, reported Nacion.com.
Olman Vargas, executive director of the CFIA, said that "the recovery is encouraging and represents what the CFIA expected during 2012. There is a stable economic situation that is promoting the confidence of investors and developers".
Businesses have a positive outlook for 2012 and hope that more jobs will be generated.
More direct jobs, more square meters built and growth around 5%. These are the expectations for 2012 by the construction sector, according to website elfinanciero.com.cr.
Gonzalo Delgado, president of the Costa Rican Chamber of Construction (CCC), said that despite a sensitive or even turbulent economy as cited by some experts, the outlook is positive. "However we must be prudent and the sector must streamline its debt in order to avoid having large inventories, so that no (economic) changes take them by surprise," added the manager.
After five years of numbers in the red, the construction sector will close this year with growth of 4.6%.
According to the Salvadoran Chamber of Construction Industry (Casalco) the execution of public works was one of the factors that contributed to growth.
In an article in Laprensagrafica.com Ismael Nolasco, executive director of Casalco said, "’A very close estimate is 4.6%, which would be a positive increase in five years within the industry. The acceptable performance of public investment has had an influence, of the $1.200 million announced, we have reached a rate of about 60% to 70% of investment, which had a favorable impact on the industry’s performance.’
The construction sector grew by 3% in the first quarter of 2011, the first positive change since 2007.
According to the Central Reserve Bank (BCR) in the first three months of the year, gross domestic product (GDP) in the sector rose by 3%.
Ismael Nolasco, executive director of the Chamber of Construction Industry (CASALCO), said, "Since 2007, we have not been positive, only in the third quarter of 2009 have we reached 0.7%."
In May alone building permits for projects worth more than $100 million were approved .
Of all the projects that received approval to start works in May, about half are residential, and the rest are commercial developments or other projects.
One of the reasons behind the boom in this sector is the strong economic growth the country is experiencing, receiving large flows of foreign investment as well as local investments.
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