The country's service sector manages to stay afloat thanks to North Island.According to BusinessNZ Performance of Services Index (PSI) activity by region returned to a similar pattern experienced earlier in the year, with the North Island showing expansio
The country’s service sector manages to stay afloat thanks to North Island.
According to BusinessNZ Performance of Services Index (PSI) activity by region returned to a similar pattern experienced earlier in the year, with the North Island showing expansion and the South Island showing decline.
While the Northern region was down 3.2 points from September, at 55.3 points recorded in October, it continues to lead the way.
The South Island experienced a consistent level of decline, with the Canterbury/Westland (45) and Otago/Southland (45.5) regions falling back into contraction for six of the last seven months.
The Central region (51.5) experienced a similar drop from the previous month returning to levels seen in June.
The country's PSI for October was 52. While it is down 2.9 points from September, it is the highest October result since 2007.
A PSI reading above 50.0 indicates the service sector is generally expanding; below 50.0 shows it is declining.
The average PSI value for 2008 was 49.1, while for 2009 it was 48.8. The average score for 2010 is 53.6 to date.
BNZ head of research Stephen Toplis said it was “remarkable” that confidence is as high as it is, given the Canterbury earthquake, the Southland storms, the post GST sales’ malaise and ongoing softness in housing market activity.
“We thus take some heart that the seasonally adjusted PSI of 52.0 remains consistent with our story that the economy slowly, but surely, continues to expand.”
