The services sector in New Zealand continued to contract in August, and at a faster rate, the latest survey from BusinessNZ revealed on Monday with a Performance of Services Index score of 47.1.
That's down from the upwardly revised 48.0 in July (originally 47.8) and it moves further beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.
Among the individual components of the survey, supplier deliveries (49.2), activity/sales (43.4) and new orders (47.3) contracted, while employment (50.9) and stocks/inventories (52.5) expanded.
"The latest PCI readings suggest any bounce through the Q2 GDP figures will be short lived and are consistent with economic contraction returning. In this sense, the PMI and PSI results are more consistent with the RBNZ forecast of a return to recession than the Treasury's latest forecasts of moderate growth ahead," BNZ Senior Economist Doug Steel said.
