The increase of about 10% forecasted on the construction market in 2015, given the progress of 10.2% reported by the National Statistics Institute (INS) for the first 11 months of last year, could bring back the volume of works in the construction sector to a value close to 10 billion euro. The growth was due to a 9.3% increase of in engineering, followed by a 6.6% increase in construction of non-residential building and one of 2.2% on the residential market. That situation indicates a natural progression for a sector that passed through a period of six years of recession. The trajectory of the Romanian construction sector in 2016 is, however, more unpredictable, as the technocrat government led by Dacian Cioloş compete in measures which have, at least at the declarative level, the intention to restore normality on a market dominated by corruption and fraud.In January 2016, there could be noticed some realities that could lead to a new contraction of the Romanian construction sector as compared to 2015, such as, for instance, the strong decrease in the number and value of tenders published in the Romanian e-procurement system (SEAP). This could be generated by the modification of the public procurement legislation and also by the anti-corruption actions of the Romanian anti-corruption department (DNA) and by the investigations and arrests in the last period, which aimed, in particular, activities and people in the construction industry, especially those involved in public works. On the other hand, the activity of the private developers, that has clearly supported the growth in 2015, coul be negatively affected by the possible effects of the possible changes in legislation, that would close many sites of the smaller developers of private housing and would lead to a rise estimated at approximately 35% of mortgage loans.
