The National Index of Construction (Sinapi), calculated by IBGE in partnership with Caixa Econômica Federal, was 0.94% in March, presenting acceleration of 0.62 percentage points in relation to February (0.32%). This result was affected by the salary readjustments which occurred in Paraíba, Bahia and Rio de Janeiro. The index accumulated in 2009 was 1.66% and, in the last 12 months, 11.67%. The current index surpassed that of March 2008 (0.84%) by 0.10 percentage points; in the last 12 months, the change of 11.67% was slightly above the 11.55% registered in the immediately previous months.

The national cost of construction by square meter changed from R$ 681.58 (February) to R$ 688.00 (March), being R$ 402.52 relative to expenditure with material and R$ 285.48 with manpower. Material rose 0.71% in March, being above the February rate (0.49%), and interrupting the downward trend which had been observed since October lat year. On the other hand, manpower accelerated, with rise of 1.28% due to salary readjustments in the aforementioned states. In February, manpower was practically stable, with only 0.08% of change. There results were above those ones charged in March 2008 (0.60% and 1.16%, respectively).     

Considering material, the index accumulated in 2009 increased and reached 1.74%; in twelve months, 13.54%. In the same periods, manpower rose accumulated indexes of 1.55% and 9.14%, respectively.

Northeast Region is the highlight in March

Affected by the indexes in Paraíba and Bahia, the Northeast Region, with rise of 1.72%, was the only area to have a result above the national average (0.94%). The other rates by area were: Southeast, 0.93%; North, 0.46%; Central West, 0.39% and South, 0.25%.    

The Northeast Region had the highest index accumulated in the year (2.57%) and, in the last twelve months, the highest increase occurred in the North Region (13.24%). The lowest index accumulated in the year was that of the South Region (0.93%), and the Southeast had the lowest result in the last 12 months (11.28%).

The regional costs by square meter were: R$ 728.08 in the Southeast; R$ 684.11 in the North; R$ 673.28 in the South; R$ 652.90 in the Central West and R$ 649.23 in the Northeast.

Among the states, Paraíba, Rio de Janeiro and Bahia had the main hikes

Due to the pressure of salary readjustments of professional categories, results in Paraíba (4.93%), o Rio de Janeiro (4.10%) and Bahia (3.63%) were significantly higher than in other states. Paraíba also had the highest index accumulated in the year (5.69%) whereas Acre was the highlight in the last twelve months  (15.62%). 

These results are calculated monthly by IBGE through a partnership with CAIXA - Caixa Econômica Federal, for Sinapi - National System of Costs Survey and Indexes of Construction.

Sinapi, created in 1969, is aimed at producing information and indexes for national coverage in a systematic way, in order to help in the elaboration and evaluation of budgets, monitoring of costs, adequacy of material and the scheduling of investments. 

In 2002, the National Congress sanctioned, through the law LDO (Budgetary Directives Law), the use of Sinapi as the reference to the calculation of costs in public construction.

MARCH/09

 SOURCE: IBGE, Diretoria de Pesquisas, Coordenação de Índices de Preços. 

 Note: These results are calculated monthly by IBGE, in partnership with Caixa   Econômica Federal.