The Production in Building and Construction Index (PBCI) is a volume index based on the value of ‘work done’ in the Residential, Non-Residential and Civil Engineering sectors. Provisional PBCI data for Q4 2020 are based on work done in October, November and December 2020.
Data for this release were collected during the months January, February and March 2021. As per previous releases, the data for Q4 2020 are provisional for this release and final revised data will be published for Q4 2020 in June 2021 (along with provisional data for Q1 2021). In this release we are also publishing final results for Q3 2020.
Revisions
This release of the PBCI includes two revisions (1) to incorporate revisions to the Wholesale Price Index in October 2020 which is used as a deflator for the PBCI and (2) to correct an error in the application of the Laspeyres formula used to generate the PBCI. In general, these revisions result in the affected indices being lower than previously published. The revision impacts the indices from Q1 2015 onwards.
Weights
The PBCI index weights are based on 2015 data (base year = 2015) and may not reflect the current distribution of economic activity in the sector due to the Covid-19 crisis.
Seasonal Adjustment
Construction activity since March 2020 has been an exception to the existing seasonal patterns. The seasonal adjustment models have been reviewed each quarter since Q2 2020 and have been changed as appropriate.
Quarter 1 2021
The CSO wishes to thank all those enterprises who supplied their Building and Construction data for quarter 4 and urge them to continue to do so for quarter 1 2021. Such information is still needed to measure the precise impact of the crisis on the construction sector. The quarter 1 PBCI is planned for publication on 2nd June.
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