Purchases of capital goods – machinery, equipment and transport equipment – have risen by almost 11 per cent in the last three years: as a share of GDP they are back near pre-crisis levels. By contrast, spending on construction has lagged behind for longer.
Between 2008 and 2014 it contracted uninterruptedly, weighing heavily on the overall investment-to-GDP ratio, which to date has hardly risen at all. Yet even this sector has shown some signs of a revival starting last year.