New Zealand BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI) dropped -2.9 pts to 48.2 in July. That’s the first contraction reading in 82 months and the lowest reading since August 2012.
BusinessNZ’s executive director for manufacturing Catherine Beard said that concerns around the direction of activity over the last six months has inevitably led to the sector falling into decline. BNZ Senior Economist, Craig Ebert said that “while July’s result is no dead-set that the economy at large is contracting, the shrinkage is certainly something to take note of”.