Activity in the construction sector looks less favorable in the second quarter, according to an analysis by the Department of Studies and Financial Forecasts (DEPF).
This trend was also observed in the first month of the third quarter of 2022, said the DEPF in its economic note for the month of August 2022 (N°306). And this after having recorded a positive evolution of its added value in the first quarter of 2022, i.e. an increase of 1.8% in one year and 10.6% compared to its pre-crisis level.
According to this department under the Ministry of Economy and Finance, “sales of cement, the main barometer of activity in the sector, fell by 7.4%, year-on-year, at the end of the first seven months of 2022. , after an increase of 1% in the first quarter of 2022 and 17.7% at the end of July 2021”.
In its economic note, the DEPF explains that “this decline stems, in particular, from a decline of 9.9% recorded in the second quarter of 2022, under the impact of the disturbances recorded on the international market”.
The data also shows that “this sector experienced a drop of 29.8% in the month of July, which this year coincided with the Eid Al-Adha holiday”, adds the same source.
By sales segment, it appears that the ready-mixed concrete and infrastructure segments continued to show a positive evolution at the end of July 2022: +2.4% and +6% respectively.
The outstanding amount of real estate loans “continued its positive trend at the end of the first half of 2022, i.e. +2.1% to 297.5 billion dirhams, after +4.6% a year earlier and +1.7 % at the end of June 2020”, according to the economic note.
It should be noted that “this change covers the increase in housing loans of 2.5% to 236.4 billion dirhams and a slight increase in loans to property developers of 0.3%, after a decline of 6 9% a year earlier”, as noted by the Department of Studies and Financial Forecasts from the same source.
As a reminder, “the expectations put forward by business leaders in the construction sector, for the second quarter of 2022, show, overall, a decrease in activity”, reported last June the High Commission for Planning ( HPC).
According to the results of the quarterly business surveys conducted by the public body among companies for the second quarter of 2022, this development would result, mainly, from the expected drop in activity in “Civil engineering”.
The High Commission also noted that “this development in the construction sector would be accompanied by a stability in the number of employees employed”.
Also according to the HCP, “in the second quarter of 2022, 42% of construction companies encountered difficulties in the supply of raw materials”. Concerning the cash flow, these surveys had noted, moreover, that “56% of business leaders find it difficult”.
Alain Bouithy