Construction confidence rises 3.5 points in September, says FGV

The Construction Confidence Index (ICST) rose 3.5 points in September to 101.7 points, the highest level since November 2012 (102.3 points), said the Brazilian Institute of Economics of the Getulio Vargas Foundation (Ibre/FGV). ) this Tuesday (27).

In the year, the ICST accumulates a high of five points. In quarterly moving averages, the index advanced 1.4 points.

The institution highlights that the indication of improvement in the construction business environment was quite significant in September. “The confidence index surpassed the neutrality mark, revealing the prevalence of a feeling of optimism,” he said in a press release.

“The Buildings segment saw an important recovery that shows a feeling of confidence similar to that achieved at the beginning of 2014. The result of the September survey strengthens the projections of strong growth for construction in 2022, driven by the companies’ business cycle” .

Ibre points out, however, that not all sectoral segments have advanced in the same direction. “The challenges for the continuity of this growth remain in the face of fiscal weaknesses, which should compromise public investments and the prospect of maintaining high interest rates for much longer,” said Ana Maria Castelo, project coordinator for the construction of FGV/Ibre , in note.

Improvement now and in the future

The result of the ICST in September was influenced both by the improvement of the assessments about the current moment and the perspectives for the coming months.

The Present Situation Index (ISACST) advanced 1.3 points to 97.7 points, the highest level since January 2014 (98.3 points). The rise in the ISA-CST is mainly due to a more favorable perception of businessmen about the current situation of business, whose indicator rose 1.8 points to 98.0 points. The indicator that measures the volume of the contract portfolio increased by 0.9 points, to 97.4 points.

The Expectations Index (IE-CST) advanced 5.6 points to 105.7 points.

“This increase is the result of optimism regarding the business trend in the next six months and short-term demand, whose indicators grew 8.8 and 2.5 points to 106.1 points and 105.3 points, respectively”, he says. the Ibre in note.

The Capacity Utilization Level (NUCI) of Construction was relatively stable, changing 0.3 percentage point (pp), to 78.0%. The Manpower Nuci was also stable and remained at 78.9%. In turn, Nuci Machinery and Equipment changed 0.5 pp, to 73.2%.

*Posted by Ligia Tuon