New Zealand’s services sector experienced an increase in expansion levels for the first month of 2019, according to the
BNZ - BusinessNZ Performance of Services Index (PSI).
The PSI for January was 56.3, which was 3.1 points up from December (A PSI reading above 50.0 indicates that the service
sector is generally expanding; below 50.0 that it is declining). This was the highest level of expansion since May, and
above the long term average of 54.5 for the survey.
BusinessNZ chief executive Kirk Hope said that it was good to see 2019 start off on solid expansion grounds.
“It was particularly good to see the key sub-indicators of activity/sales (61.5) and new orders/business (61.4) both
above the 60-point mark, with the former at its highest level since March 2018.
Despite the rise in overall activity levels, the proportion of positive comments in January (54.0%) was almost exactly
the same as December (54.4%), but lower than both November (60.1%) and October (56.5%). Both Xmas and holidays were
again the stand out reasons for negative comments, while a number of positive comments outlined new clients and business
opportunities for the new year