ACCORDING to the Eurostat newsrelease published on Wednesday, construction activity in Cyprus fell 15.9% during the second quarter of 2012 compared with the second quarter of 2011. This follows a decline during the first quarter of 17.6%.
The decline is the second highest fall in the European Union after Greece (which fell by 28.6%).
Production in construction also fell in Portugal (-17.7%), Slovenia (-16.6%), Italy (-13.9%), Spain (-12.8%) and Slovakia (-11.5%).
Building construction declined by 5.2% in the euro area and by 6.9% in the EU27, after falling 5.7% and 6.0% respectively in July 2012. Civil engineering decreased by 7.9% in the euro area and by 7.5% in the EU27, after falling 6.8% and 10.5% respectively in the previous month.
In the first quarter of 2012, there was an increase of 5.2% and 6.6% in EU27 and the euro area respectively.
Compared with August 2011, production in August 2012 dropped by 5.5% in the euro area and by 6.8% in the EU27 (but the figures from Cyprus were not available).