According to the forecasts of the Portuguese Federation of Construction and Public Works Industry (FEPICOP), despite the slight slowdown in the pace of growth compared to 2019, FEPICOP still said that the forecasts confirm the continuation of the recovery cycle that began in 2017, after the serious and long crisis that the sector had experienced since 2002.


If the 5.5 percent growth materialises in 2020, the federation said that the sector will grow by 23 percent between 2017 and 2020, after an accumulated drop of 60 percent between 2002 and 2016.


The most significant evolution is the residential building construction segment, with an expected growth of 9 percent for 2020, with its new construction component growing 10 percent. The repair/maintenance component should register growth of 8 percent, after several years in which this type of work has assumed the role of growth engine of this segment, FEPICOP said.


A positive evolution is expected in the construction of non-residential buildings (+2.4 percent), due to the 2 percent growth of the private component, in 2020, and the expected maintenance of the 3 percent growth rate of the public component.


Finally, the data point to a 5 percent increase in the production of the civil engineering works segment in 2020 (it had grown by 4.0 percent in 2019), resulting from the announced reinforcement of public investment, reflected in the proposed State Budget for 2020 and the strong growth observed in the public works market throughout 2019.