New Zealand’s services sector remained in the zone of healthy expansion, according to the BNZ – BusinessNZ Performance of Services Index (PSI).
The PSI for July was 56.5. Although this was 1.6 points lower than June, it continued a noteable stretch of expansion in the sector between the 56-58 mark (A PSI reading above 50.0 indicates that the service sector is generally expanding; below 50.0 that it is declining).
BusinessNZ chief executive Phil O’Reilly said that the PSI for July displayed the fundamentals of continuing growth, which is encouraging given a number of headwinds within the New Zealand economy at present.
“The proportion of positive comments in July (64.1%) was up on June, with respondents outlining new business/orders and product development as key ingredients for influences on activity. To a lesser extent, the recent fall in the value of the New Zealand dollar has also assisted expansion”.
BNZ Senior Economist Doug Steel said while lower dairy prices and flattening residential building activity would likely slow NZ’s economic growth over time, the latest solid readings from the service and manufacturing sectors shows there were still other factors driving decent growth in the meantime.
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