Maldives construction industry observed significant challenges during the second quarter of 2020.
According to Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) in their Quarterly Business Survey, the decline in business activity of the country's construction sector comes in concurrence from executives of construction business.
Moreover, according to MMA's survey the volume of construction activity saw a steep plunge of 76 points, dropping from 15 points in the first quarter to 61 points in the second quarter.
On the other hand the volume of orders index which had receded to 0 in the first quarter, further plummeted to -16 points in the review quarter.
Meanwhile the employment index of construction industry fell by 46 points from 2 bordering close to 0, further hitting to -44 points in the second quarter. Wages and other labor costs index which floated close to 0 points saw a decline from 1 to -1 points.
Index for input prices saw an opposite movement, as the index rose by 33 points to hit 40 in the second quarter with prices charged for work rising by 25 points to hit 25, indicating price pressures.
As for the third, current quarter, businesses in the sector expect improvements with volume of construction activity surging by 19 points.
Several projects that stalled during the second quarter observed resumption following ease on lockdown measures in June 2020. This subsequently lifted expectation on employment levels for the third quarter of 2020.
Additionally, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) claim the Gross Value Added (GVA) of the sector in the first quarter was at MVR912 million.
The GVA of construction sector saw a decline of -24.4 percent in comparison with the corresponding quarter of 2019 while the GVA saw a decline of -19.9 percent when compared with the last quarter of 2019.
Furthermore, the survey of NBS states the GVA decline in the first quarter had residual effects in the second quarter of 2020.
