Construction sector grew 4.1% in May, according to Capeco

According to the Peruvian Chamber of Construction (Capeco), the positive trend in the sector continued in May, although with a lower intensity than in April (7.2%), which was 4.1%, mainly due to the significant progress of public works by 19.6%. However, a contrary behavior is evident with the decrease in cement consumption, which would in turn reflect the difficulties that continue to affect the performance of private construction.

“Although cement consumption has shown a slight contraction of 1.9%, public works are recovering with six months of growth, being an important factor for the growth of the construction sector,” said Guido Valdivia, executive director of the construction union.

According to figures from the Ministry of Economy and Finance (Mef), at the end of May 2024, S/16,390 million of state works budgets have been executed, a record amount that also implies an increase of 31.7% compared to the same period last year. And there has been a significant increase in the levels of budget execution of investments between January and May with different intensities, being 72.7% in the regions, 35.5% in the municipalities and 14.1% in the government national.

Thus, the Central Reserve Bank of Peru (BCRP) increased its forecast for the increase in public investment in 2024 from 4% to 12%. Aligning with this new projection, the most recent studies carried out by BBVA and Macroconsult also project a significantly better result of state investment for the current year, of 9.5% and 10.7%, respectively.

Likewise, an average increase of 1.4% was detected in the level of operations of companies in the construction sector during the second two months of this year, exceeding business expectations (0.8%), according to the survey carried out. Along these lines, it is expected that the third two months will be more auspicious for companies in the sector, as they project a growth of 2.9% in their operations.