construction output, EU,--Eurozone construction output drops 1.0% in May

BRUSSELS, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Construction output in the euro zone dropped by 1.0 percent in May compared with the previous month, the European Union (EU)'s statistics arm Eurostat said on Monday.

Year on year, output in May dropped by 6.3 percent in the 16-nation bloc.

In the 27-nation EU, construction output fell by 0.6 percent in May compared with the previous month and by 2.4 percent compared with the same month last year.

Among the member states for which data are available, construction output fell in seven countries and rose in six and remained unchanged in France on monthly basis.

The largest decreases were registered in Romania, which dropped by 6.6 percent, followed by Slovenia. The highest increases were seen in the Czech Republic, which increased by 7.2 percent.

In Germany, the largest economy in the Eurozone, construction output decreased by 2.3 percent on monthly basis, but gained 3.8 percent compared with a year ago.

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