Nonresidential construction spending dropped 1.7 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted $696.3 billion on an annual basis, the Associated Builders and Contractors said, citing U.S. Census Bureau figures.

Private nonresidential construction spending dropped 0.6 percent for the month. For the year however, it up 4.3 percent compared with a year ago. Public nonresidential spending declined 3.4 percent and is down 4.2 percent from a year ago.

ABC officials blamed drops in infrastructure spending for much of the decline.

“A staggering 13 of 16 nonresidential construction segments experienced spending declines in April,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu.  “While poor weather interrupted a considerable amount of economic activity in the Northeast in March —which produced March’s weak jobs report, among other things — weather generally improved in April. This would normally suggest expansion in nonresidential construction spending in on a monthly basis; however, that is not reflected in the April data.

“Instead, public nonresidential construction spending continued to demonstrate substantial weakness with one noteworthy exception, water supply, which produced a small increase,” Basu said. “Among the private categories only office, which was flat, and commercial, which sustained only a small monthly decline, reported stable spending amounts. Both categories have seen a year-over-year spending expansion of 12.4 percent.”