Increase in Construction in the EU in February - Slight Decrease in Bulgaria

Output in the construction sector of the EU, and in particular the Eurozone, rose steadily for the second month in a row since the start of 2023, while construction in Bulgaria fell, erasing a weak increase in January, Eurostat data showed.

EU construction rose 2% in February from January, when it rebounded 3.3%, while Eurozone construction output rose 2.3% after rising 3.8% in the first month of 2023.

Construction saw the strongest growth in February in Austria (up 13.3%), followed by the Netherlands (up 3.5%) and Romania (up 3.1%). At the same time, the largest decline in construction output was reported in the Czech Republic (down 3.7%), Sweden (down 1.6%), Slovakia (down 0.8%) and Bulgaria (down 0.7%).

From a year earlier, output in the EU construction sector rose 2.1% in February after rising 0.5% in January, while within the Eurozone construction rose 2.3% after rising 0.5% in the previous month.

The strongest year-on-year growth in construction in February was reported in Slovenia (up 17.5%), Austria (up 17%) and Romania (up 10.4%), while the strongest decline was reported in Hungary (decrease by 11.8%), the Czech Republic (by 4.3%) and Finland (by 3.3%).

According to the same Eurostat survey, construction in Bulgaria in February 2023 decreased by 0.7% compared to January, when it increased by 0.4% and after a decline at the end of last year by 1.7%.

Production in Bulgarian construction on an annual basis decreased in February by 2.9% (compared to February 2022), after a decrease of 0.3% in January and by 4% at the end of last year.