New Zealand’s services sector began 2016 with a solid level of expansion, according to the BNZ – BusinessNZ Performance of Services Index (PSI).
The PSI for January was 55.4. While this was 3.1 points lower than December, it still represented healthy activity in the sector (A PSI reading above 50.0 indicates that the service sector is generally expanding; below 50.0 that it is declining).
BusinessNZ chief executive Kirk Hope said that January’s result had a notable seasonal aspect to it.
“While the proportion of positive comments (59.7%) continued to dominate, those mentioning the Xmas/holiday break was notably stronger with those outlining negative influences on activity over January. On the plus side, there were a noticeable number of comments related to both domestic and international tourists assisting activity”.
Regarding the January result, BNZ Senior Economist Craig Ebert said “the PSI lost a bit of steam in January, but it’s difficult to know if this is anything more than the usual monthly bounce-around. However, put with the relatively better PMI (57.9), January’s PSI remains enough to suggest annual GDP growth running in the range of 3 to 4%. We figure something closer to 2.5%”.
