Deteriorating consumer confidence and high inflation caused conditions in the services sector to go backwards in August for the first time in seven months, in an early sign the Reserve Bank’s interest rate rises are putting a dampener on the economic outlook.P Global’s composite purchasing manager’s index fell to 49.8 in August, below the 50-point mark that separates expansion and contraction.
“The January 2022 result was bookended by strong outcomes in December 2021 and February 2022 . So, the January data was noise and not signal,” Mr Aird said. “But having said that, we know that nine out of 10 firms are saying that their ability to produce output is being limited by the availability of suitable workers, and that might explain why services was weaker than manufacturing,” she said.