New Zealand Services Sector Swings To Expansion In January - BusinessNZ

(RTTNews) - The services sector in New Zealand moved back up into expansion territory in January, the latest survey from BusinessNZ revealed on Monday with a Performance of Services Index score of 52.1.

That's up from 48.8 in December, and it moves back above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

Individually, sales (53.0), new orders (51.8) and stocks (53.5) expanded, while employment (48.1) and supplier deliveries (48.7) contracted.

"The combined PMI and PSI activity indicator suggests that annual GDP growth will soon turn positive. That is great news for an economy that has been under pressure. But it still has to go a lot further before we return to growth rates that would prevent the spare capacity in the economy growing," BNZ Senior Economist Doug Steel said.