Analyst: Construction Sector Likely to Benefit from Public Projects Also in 2026

Bratislava, 9 March (TASR) - The construction sector should continue to benefit this year from public construction projects that are funded from the recovery plan and are nearing completion, as well as from the gradual launch of new projects financed via calls for drawing EU funds, UniCredit Bank analyst Lubomir Korsnak stated in a commentary on construction output data for January published by the Statistics Office on Monday. "However, it's likely that the chronic problems in the construction of public infrastructure will partly dampen the positive effects of the launch of new public projects or may bring unwanted volatility in construction. Meanwhile, as projects funded from the recovery plan will be gradually nearing completion, the momentum in infrastructure construction will be weakening progressively during the year, meaning that negative figures will be appearing more frequently in terms of growth," said Korsnak. He added that the construction of buildings, the most dominant segment, should maintain a mainly upward trend this year as well. This is due to a robust recovery in the residential market at the turn of summer and autumn, which has gradually been translated into new construction. "Despite the negative impacts of the fiscal consolidation package, we expect that relatively strong demand for new real estate, supported by lower interest rates, will persist this year as well," said Krosnak, adding that construction may be temporarily hindered by bad weather. However, due to seasonally reduced production output between January and March, this shouldn't affect the overall figures significantly. The Statistics Office reported on Monday that Slovakia's construction output amounted to €444.7 million in January 2026, down by almost 2 percent year-on-year (y-o-y), adding that domestic construction output posted slight y-o-y growth of 1 percent despite the winter season. Seasonally adjusted, construction output fell by 5.4 percent from December 2025, however. jrg/df