New Zealand BusinessNZ Performance of Services Index rose from 54.4 to 58.6 in August. Looking at some details, activity/sales rose from 54.4 to 67.1. Employment rose from 49.3 to 50.8. New orders/business rose from 53.4 to 66.5. Stocks/inventories rose from 53.8 to 59.6. Supplier deliveries rose from 47.6 to 49.6.
BNZ Senior Economist Doug Steel said that “overall, combining August’s strong PSI with last week’s firmer PMI yields a composite index (PCI) that suggests annual GDP growth up toward 5% in Q3 2022. We currently forecast 5%+ for that period but that strength is mostly a function of the very weak base period. If the PCI is truly bouncing, the key question is for how long?”
