New Zealand's Services Sector Extends Tentative Expansion
By James Glynn
SYDNEY--New Zealand's services sector activity continued to expand in August, highlighting the country's resilience amid rising fuel costs, higher interest rates and an upcoming election.
The BNZ - BusinessNZ performance of services index was 51.2 for the month, up slightly from 50.6 in July, and above 50.9 in June. It was the highest since September 2023.
"It's encouraging to see the PSI post its strongest reading since returning to growth, though at 51.2 this remains a fragile recovery," said BusinessNZ's chief executive officer, Katherine Rich.
With three of the five sub-indices still below 50, there's clearly more ground to make up before we can call this a solid turnaround, she added.
Cost-of-living pressures, interest rates, and election uncertainty remain front of mind for many respondents, the data showed.
Sentiment in the services sector softened compared to July, with 60.8% of comments negative.
New orders was the strongest sub-index at 55.2 in August, followed by stocks at 50.8. Supplier deliveries was the weakest at 49.0, with employment also soft at 49.4.
-Write to James Glynn at james.glynn@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 13, 2026 19:28 ET (23:28 GMT)
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