The National Index of Civil Construction of December, estimated by IBGE in partnership with CAIXA, was 0.36%, the lowest index in 2003. This indicator was quite below December's of 2002 (2.91%), with a difference of 2.55 percentage points. With December's result, the cumulative change of the year stayed at 14.31% against 13.43% in the same period of 2002.  

In the composition of he national cost, R$ 261.78 were relative to materials and R$ 195.81 to labor force (total cost of R$ 457.59). In December, materials registered a high of 0.58%, 0.22 percentage points above November's index (0.36%).

Labor force registered a drop of 2.05 percentage points, if compared to the previous month (0.07% in December against 2.12% in November). The cumulative index of January-December were:

Materials: 12.93%

Labor force: 16.21%

The cumulative index of 2003 (14.31%) was 0.88 percentage points above the index recorded in 2002 (13.43%). The behavior of the index in the two last years presented different trends. Whereas in 2002, the year started with 0.64%, in 2003, the same period registered 1.84%. On the other hand, December 2002 closed at 2.91%, while in 2003 the indicator was 0.36%.

The same happened with materials:

2002: January = 1.09% and December = 4.10%;

2003: January = 3.10% and December = 0.58%;

Southeast Region closes the year with increase

The North and Northeast regions registered regional index (0.55% and 0.41% respectively), staying above the national average (0.36%). The other results:

The cost in the Southeast Region closed the year of 2003 with a high of 15.78%, above the national average (14.31%).  The other regions were below the national rate: the Central-West (14.21%), South (13.47%), Northeast (13.07%) and North regions (12.04%).

The regional costs, per square meter, were (in a decreasing order):  

Sixteen states below the national index

In 2003, of the 27 states, 16 presented cumulative indexes below the national one (14.31%). The indexes ranged between 10.28% (Roraima) and 17.26% (Mato Grosso do Sul).

In the North, the highlight was the state of Tocantins, with a high of 16.05% in the year. In the Northeast, the lowest index was registered in Alagoas (10.96%) and the highest in Maranhão and in Piauí (16.02%). In the Southeast, Minas posted 15.24% and Rio de Janeiro, 16.73%.  The highlights in the South were Paraná (11.93%) and Santa Catarina (15.99%). The lowest cumulative index of the Central-West was in Mato Grosso (11.86%).  

These results are monthly estimated by IBGE through a partnership with CAIXA – Caixa Econômica Federal, based on SINAPI – National Survey of Costs and Index of Civil Construction. SINAPI, created in 1969, has the purpose of producing information on costs and indexes in a systematic way and with a national coverage, in order to elaborate and evaluate budgets as well as monitor costs, materials' adequacy and investment programs.  In 2002, the National Congress approved, by means of the Budgetary Directive Law (LDO), the adoption of SINAPI as a reference for the definition of costs in public constructions.