WELLINGTON, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand's services sector continued to expand in September for a fourth consecutive month, although growth remained weak amid ongoing cost pressures and election uncertainty, a business survey showed on Monday.
The Bank of New Zealand (BNZ)-BusinessNZ Performance of Services Index edged down to 50.9 in September from 51 in August, but remained above the 50-point level separating expansion from contraction.
BusinessNZ CEO Katherine Rich said in a statement that four consecutive months of expansion were positive, but businesses remained cautious ahead of the general election on Nov. 7, which is likely to limit a stronger recovery until there is more certainty.
Survey respondents continued to highlight cost-of-living pressures, fuel prices, interest rates and election uncertainty. Negative comments accounted for 59.9 percent of responses, broadly unchanged from August.
Among the sub-indices, New orders/business and stocks/inventories were the strongest, at 52.6 and 52.3, respectively. Supplier deliveries was the weakest at 49.4, while employment was also weak at 49.8, highlighting the narrow nature of the recovery.
BNZ Senior Economist Doug Steel said the fourth consecutive month of expansion was notable following two years of contraction. However, services sector growth remained weak, particularly compared with manufacturing, whose Performance of Manufacturing Index had remained well above the 50-point threshold for some time. ■
