Construction activity in the fourth quarter of 2006 in the A.C. of the Basque Country registered 9.8% nominal growth compared to the same quarter of 2005, in homogenous terms of the working calendar, according to EUSTAT data. For 2006 as a whole, growth was 8.0% in relation to the previous year.

Once seasonal effects had been corrected, so that quarters can be compared to one another, the fourth quarter of 2006 saw construction activity grow by 4.1% in relation to the third quarter of the year, showing a gain in momentum as regards the inter-monthly rate of the previous quarter (2.3%).

Corrected inter-annual quarterly growth of the Construction Index of the A.C. of the Basque Country

Source: Eustat

The evolution of the construction sector in the fourth quarter of 2006 depended more on the sub-sector of Building than that of Civil Works, with the former achieving an inter-annual rise of 10.2%, compared to the 8.9% increase shown by the latter. In accumulated terms, positions were maintained, with 8.5% growth for Building and 6.8% for Civil Works over the year as a whole.

In inter-quarterly terms, if we compare sector activity in the fourth quarter of 2006 to the third quarter of 2006, the Civil Works sub-sector showed positive evolution of 7.1% and that of Building obtained more modest inter-quarterly growth of 2.7%.

Employment in the construction sector in the fourth quarter of 2006 underwent a 1.2% increase with regard to the same period of the previous year, obtaining inter-quarterly growth of 0.3% in relation to the third quarter of 2006.

Table: 4th quarter 2006. Variation rates (%) for the Construction Index of the A.C. of the Basque Country

(1) Variation rate for the period accumulated from January until the last quarter of year t in relation to the same period of year t-1

Source: Eustat