Activity in New Zealand’s services sector during October was largely on par with recent months, according to the BNZ – BusinessNZ Performance of Services Index (PSI).
The PSI for October was 55.6, which was 0.3 points lower than September (A PSI reading above 50.0 indicates that the service sector is generally expanding; below 50.0 that it is declining). It was also the third time in four months that activity rested between 55-56 points.
BusinessNZ chief executive Kirk Hope said that while the sector has shown consistent and healthy levels of expansion, it is slightly off the 56-58 values generally experienced in recent years.
“Despite overall expansion not being quite in the same league as recent years, the proportion of positive comments for October (67.6%) experienced a noticeable lift from September (56.6%), with many outlining conditions being business as usual. Also, a number of negative comments continued to revolve around General Election uncertainly”.
BNZ Senior Economist Doug Steel said that “these are robust results given the prevailing uncertainty surrounding the election, coalition negotiations, and government formation over the period. It was a similar story in last week’s equivalent for the manufacturing sector. It is a positive start for economic growth in the final quarter of the year”.
