SA Affordable Housing March - April 2019 // Issue: 75 | Page 7

NEWS
Slight growth expected for
SA construction in 2019
Fitch Solutions has announced that it expects the
South African construction industry to emerge from its
recession in 2019 and grow at an expected rate of 2.4%.
W
hile by no means mind-blowing, the expected growth is likely to indicate
a turnaround in fortunes for South Africa’s largest construction firms,
which have been languishing in near impossible conditions for the past
few years.
Aveng, Basil Read and Group Five will not celebrate just yet, however, as the
percentage growth is low relative to what is required for a complete turnaround.
In its 2019 sub-Saharan Africa construction growth outlook, Fitch says it expects
the construction industry in the region to grow by 6.8% year on year, ‘…which will
continue over the medium term as investment flows into the region in order to
meet pressing infrastructure needs’.
Ethiopia remains the continent’s top performer, with its construction industry
value likely to increase by 12.3%.
As the Zambian government currently faces a fiscal crisis and a rising risk of
debt distress, construction there is likely to contract 2.3% in 2019. Meanwhile
the construction sector in Namibia is forecast to slow down as major projects
come to an end.
Ethiopia remains the continent’s
top performer in construction with
an increase of more than 12%.