The services sector in New Zealand remained in expansion for the first month of 2026, according to the BNZ – BusinessNZ Performance of Services Index (PSI).
The PSI for January was 50.9 (A PSI reading above 50.0 indicates that the service sector is generally expanding; below 50.0 that it is declining). This was 0.8 points lower than December and below the average of 52.8 over the history of the survey.
BusinessNZ’s CEO, Katherine Rich said that despite the January result showing a lower level of activity than December, at least the sector remains on the right side of the ledger after such a lengthy period of contraction. Two of the five sub-index values were in expansion for January, with Activity/Sales (54.2) leading the way, followed by New Orders/Business (51.8). Stocks/Inventories (49.7) fell back into contraction, while Employment (49.1) dropped further compared to December.
The proportion of negative comments for January was 58.7%, which was up from December (50.4%) and November (52.9%). Negative comments received showed the services sector still reporting low confidence, with Christmas–New Year holidays and seasonal shutdowns leading to fewer enquiries and a prolonged post-holiday slowdown. These effects were compounded by high living and operating costs.
BNZ’s Senior Economist Doug Steel said that “the big question to end 2025 was whether the economy may be turning. Data since then has given us confidence that recent positive momentum can be sustained. The economy is growing”.
