New Zealand’s services sector experienced its third consecutive drop in activity levels, according to the BNZ – BusinessNZ Performance of Services Index (PSI). The PSI for August was 47.1 (A PSI reading above 50.0 indicates that the service sector is generally expanding; below 50.0 that it is declining). This was down 0.9 points from July, and almost at the level seen back in January 2022. It was also well below the long-term average of 53.5 for the survey. BusinessNZ chief executive Kirk Hope said that the August result showed little in the way of a road to recovery. While Employment (50.9) went back into slight ... (full story)