New Zealand’s BNZ Performance of Services Index declined from 49.1 to 47.9 in December, well below historical average of 53.1. This also marks the 10th consecutive month of contraction.
The breakdown of the data highlights broad weakness: activity/sales fell from 48.3 to 46.2, and supplier deliveries dropped sharply from 52.5 to 47.7. New orders/business remained stagnant at 49.5, just below the threshold for expansion, while employment showed a marginal improvement, rising from 46.7 to 47.4. Stocks/inventories also slipped into contraction territory, falling from 52.0 to 48.8.
Negative sentiment among respondents increased to 57.5% in December, up from 53.6% in November, with cost-of-living pressures and concerns about the general economic climate dominating feedback.
BNZ’s Senior Economist Doug Steel remarked, “Comparing across our key trading partners, New Zealand has the only PSI in contraction. Our neighbour Australia is the closest comparison, but their equivalent PSI is sitting more comfortably at 50.8.”
