Construction picks up following months of slowdown

Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA)’s quarterly business survey report shows construction to have picked up in the third quarter following months of slowdown.

It shows growth within the construction industry in Q3 compared to Q2, and projects further growth in Q4.

The main challenges to growth in construction industry remains financing, short supply of skilled labor, and high cost of construction machinery and equipment.

While MMA forecasts construction projects to increase over Q4, the quarterly business survey shows manufacturing industry to have performed poorly in Q3 compared to Q2. However, industrial experts remain optimistic, and project an improvement in the performance in the manufacturing industry in Q4.

The main challenges facing the manufacturing industry is the low demand, and delay in payment.

MMA’s quarterly business survey is prepared based on records collected from key Maldivian industries and shows projections for the future based on current performance.

The survey for Q3 was conducted from September 25 to October 3. 176 major businesses were sent questionnaires for the survey, but only 99 participated.