Argentina's construction activity in August showed a seasonally-adjusted 3.2 percent decrease compared to the same month last year, yet a 1.8 percent increase (also seasonally-adjusted) compared to the previous month, reported the Argentine government's National Institute of Statistics and Census (INDEC) this week.
According to INDEC's data, the accumulated activity in the Argentine construction sector in the first eight months of 2009 dropped 2.8 percent from the same period of last year.
Construction permits in August declined 0.1 percent when compared to the previous month and fell 17.9 percent when compared to August of 2008, reported INDEC.
A separate survey survey showed that only 5.6 percent of the firms in charge of public construction expressed hope that the situation will improve. On the other hand, 38.9 percent expects activity to go down, and 55.5 percent expects stability.
The firms surveyed in the private sector have a more negative perspective as none of them expressed hope that the situation would improve while 45.5 percent expect a contraction and 54.5 percent foresee stability.