12/10/2008 11h01
Civil construction estimates growing 10% this year, despite the effects of the crisis
Folha de S. Paulo - 12/10/2008
The civil construction, the industrial sector that most grew in the third quarter of this year in comparison to the same period of 2007, foresees keeping the expansion rhythm in the fourth quarter of this year, in spite of the world financial crisis and its consequences in the country's economy. SindusCon-SP (Industry Union of Civil Construction of the State of São Paulo) estimates that the sector should grow 10% this year in comparison with last year. "We registered growth of 9.2% in the last 12 months. And, for this last quarter, we expect to grow around 8.5% [in comparison with the fourth quarter of 2007]. If this percentage is confirmed, it will be a good result", affirmed Eduardo Zaidan, Sinduscon-SP's director of economy. "The sector should not suffer a retraction as the one seen in the automotive sector. The investments made take longer to have a positive impact in the construction, such as their suspensions take longer to have negative consequences", he said. According to Sérgio Watanabe, president of the SindusCon-SP, the performance of the sector in the third quarter of this year - the growth was of 11.7% in comparison with the same period in 2007 - is mainly a result of the investments made. "The productive investments continued growing, which is a fundamental factor for the country's development. Investments in machine, equipment and civil construction remain and their effects will be translated into the expansion of the infrastructure and in more growth in the future." Paulo Safady Simão, president of the CBIC (Brazilian Chamber of the Construction Industry), evaluates that "the GDP's result reaffirmed that the civil construction has been the engine of the Brazilian economic growth in 2008". "For the first time in many years we have not seen a two-digit growth in an economic sector that generates so much employment and income. He emphasized that more than 300 thousand jobs were created this year. Secovi-SP (home building union) registered growth of 17.4% in the sale of new buildings in the São Paulo capital between January and September of this year in relation to the same period of 2007. The November data and the expectations of growth for the next year should be published next week. But in September the first signs of consequences of the financial crisis started reaching the real estate market - when the launching offers fell 35% in relation to the month of August. The sales of new buildings also had a fall. Employment in the sector also decelerated in October, when 5,905 jobs were created in the country, according to a survey made by SindusCon-SP and FGV (Getulio Vargas Foundation). In September and August 39.8 thousand and 42.2 thousand jobs in civil construction were created, respectively.
