According to KSH, the decline in construction – just as in the previous four months – was partly caused by the rush to use up EU funds by the end of 2015, which meant that last May was a very busy time for building and that there has been less construction since.

Output dropped in both main groups of construction: the construction of buildings dropped 4.4%, and civil engineering work was down 43.8%, KSH reported.

In the first five months, the volume of construction output was 27.9% lower than a year earlier, the report says.

The volume of new contracts was 15.0% higher than in the same period of the previous year: The volume of new contracts concluded for the construction of buildings and civil engineering works was up by 21.6% and 11.1% respectively, according to KSH.