TIRANA, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- The construction sector in Albania maintained a positive growth during the second quarter of this year and the trend is expected to continue into the second half of 2017, data published by the Bank of Albania (BoA) showed Monday.
"The increase of the approved number of construction permits and the positive contribution of public investments signal a continuation of the positive trend of Albania's construction sector in 2017," BoA experts said in an analysis.
According to them, the confidence indicator and the rate of capacity utilization in construction suggested that the performance of the construction sector would further improve in the upcoming months.
"The added value of the sector expanded at a high annual rate, around 14.1 percent, following positive rates of the previous quarter," the central bank experts noted.
According to the analysis of BoA specialists, during the second quarter, Albania saw an increase in the sale of apartments, as the decline of the euro affects the housing prices.
Meanwhile, experts emphasized that the continuation of the project for the construction of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and the growth of foreign direct investment inflows were expected to have had a positive effect on the performance of the construction sector.
They added that the sector developments were also influenced by the realization of engineering works and the category of new constructions.
Albanian construction sector has suffered a decline over the past years, mainly due to the drop in the public investments carried out by the government and the deadlock in the apartments' sales.
Therefore, the fact that economic indicators of this sector are improving is considered by economy experts here as a good signal for the Albanian economy in general.