Dreary month for Eurozone’s building firms
THE EUROZONE’S construction sector recorded another slump in June, driven by a decline in Spain, according to official figures released yesterday.
Overall, construction output dropped by 0.7 per cent from May alone, and by 2.3 per cent from the same month last year.
Spain, which has seen extremely rapid growth in the construction industry over recent months, recorded a decline of 2.9 per cent between May and June. Output in the Eurozone’s fourth largest economy is still up by 6.8 per from 12 months earlier.
Building firms in Germany and France, the bloc’s two largest economies, recorded a modest expansion from May. However, output is still down compared to last year, by one and 1.2 per cent respectively.
Mario Draghi, the embattled head of the European Central Bank (ECB), is due to make a speech at the Jackson Hole monetary policy symposium at the end of this week.
However, Ken Wattret of BNP Paribas expects little change from Draghi this week, noting that the ECB’s governing council has not met since Draghi’s last press conference.