Thaindian News

Wellington, Jan 30 (IANS) New Zealand’s service sector is struggling and will continue to struggle in the near future, an industry leader said Monday on the release of the latest Performance of Services Index (PSI).

The BNZ-Business New Zealand PSI figure for December was just 50.6, down from 56.2 in November and down 0.2 points from the October figure, reported Xinhua.

A PSI figure above 50 indicates expansion, and below 50 a decline.

The December figure was also below the 2011 PSI average of 52.6 and the 2010 average of 53.2, but it was above the 2009 figure of 48.8.

Business New Zealand chief executive Phil O’Reilly said both the PSI and the Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI) have ended 2011 with “more of a whimper than a bang”.

“While the PSI has now remained in positive territory for 26 consecutive months, it has struggled to push any higher than moderate levels of expansion,” said O’Reilly in a statement from Business New Zealand.

“The results for December and October indicate that the sector may struggle for stronger expansion in the near future.”

BNZ bank senior economist Craig Ebert said the December PSI gave a sense of “ongoing progression”, underscored by its employment component remaining in expansion.

“This survey’s constructive view on staffing is encouraging, and corresponds with other surveys produced in the last couple of months, all signalling ongoing growth on the jobs front,” he said in the statement.

Only three of the five sub-indices showed expansion in December: new orders-business, which was 53.6, employment at 52.7, and stocks-inventories at 51.9.

Activity-sales was 49.7, in decline for the first time since July 2010, while supplier deliveries at 48.6 was in contraction for the first time since March 2011.