Activity in New Zealand’s services sector continued its upwards momentum, according to the BNZ – BusinessNZ Performance of Services Index (PSI).
The PSI for September was 59.3. This was 0.8 points higher than August, and the highest result since November 2007 (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 any time activity is at its highest level for nearly eight years it represents a very favourable period of growth for the sector.
“With activity/sales (63.2) close to record levels and new orders/business (63.1) also remaining well above the 60-point mark, the sector is in very good health at present, with little sign of any slow down”.
“The proportion of positive comments in September (65.8%) was well up from August (59.2%), with those who stipulated positive influences citing a variety of factors, including new products/markets, increased demand and seasonal factors at play”.
BNZ Senior Economist Doug Steel said “the positivity in the PSI adds to the improvement we saw in its cousin for the manufacturing sector (PMI) last week. Together these surveys add support to our view that economic growth will be stronger in the second half of 2015 than it was over the first half”.
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