The construction industry continued to perform at a subdued level in August 2023, yet reaching towards the neutral threshold, recording a Total Activity Index value of 47.0. As per the respondents, firms tend to undercut prices to secure the limited available projects in a highly competitive tender bidding process.
The lack of new projects continued to have a severe adverse impact on the industry as reflected by the continuous decline in New Orders. Many respondents highlighted that the limited availability of local and foreign funded construction projects is still a major concern in the industry. In this background, firms laied off contract based employees to scale down operations as reflected by the continuous decline in Employment. Further, Quantity of Purchases continued to decline, yet at a slower rate during the month. In the meantime, Suppliers’ Delivery Time shortened during the month mainly due to reduced pressure on supplier capacity.