The growth of Australia's services sector accelerated in March, as indicated by the latest survey from Judo Bank. The service PMI score increased to 54.4, up from February's score of 53.1. This score is well above the critical marker of 50, which differentiates expansion from contraction.
The growth in the services activity was primarily driven by consecutive monthly increases in new business during March. Factors such as improved customer demand and greater queries resulted in an upsurge in new workflows. Sector-specific data reveals that the transport & storage sector saw the highest growth in new sales, followed closely by consumer services.
However, in contrast, new export business declined in March due to reduced demand from overseas. Over the past six months, export business has declined five times, albeit at a marginal rate during March.
