Activity in New Zealand’s services sector managed to just slip into expansion for September, according to the BNZ – BusinessNZ Performance of Services Index (PSI).
The PSI for September was 50.3, which was up 3.1 points from August (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 like its sister survey for the manufacturing sector, the PSI returned to expansion (albeit close to no change) after lockdown restrictions were lifted in Auckland.
“While the Northern region still displayed contraction in September, its improvement from August, along with increased activity in most other parts of the country, was enough to get the sector back in black.
BNZ Senior Economist Doug Steel said that “recent PSI and PMI readings are consistent with a big bounce back in Q3 GDP from the massive decline in Q2. The exact degree of it is much more difficult to judge. What lies ahead is arguably more important – making the PSI and PMI indicators important to monitor over coming months”.