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29 March 2024

Argentine construction sector extends declines

Published
By Staff Writer

Argentine construction activity fell in December for a fifth consecutive month, leading to the slowest annual growth in six years.

Construction fell a seasonally adjusted 1.4 per cent last month from November and rose 1.6 per cent from a year earlier, according to a report by the National Statistics Institute in Buenos Aires. In the year, construction increased five per cent, the slowest growth since 2002, when the economy ended a four-year recession.

President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner announced plans last month to spend as much as 111 billion pesos ($32bn, Dh117bn) on public works to almost double employment in the construction industry to 780,000 people.

It is part of a plan to spur growth in South America's second biggest economy, which expanded at least eight per cent a year from 2003 through 2007. Last year's growth will be reported on March 18.