During the month of April, activity of services sector deteriorated for the thirteenth month in a row. This latest piece of news has been confirmed by the BNZ Capital-Business NZ Performance of Service Index (PSI).

For the month of April, the PSI was 43.7, which came as the second lowest overall result recorded and 3.4 points below March's level indicating service sector activity continues to shrink.

An expansion in index score of above 50 indicates sector activity was also being seen under pressure.

Since the index commenced in April 2007, service sector employment sunk to its second lowest level. Along with this, cuts were reported by firms of all sizes since the contraction of the section was witnessed across all four major regions.

An enormous fall in April in the wholesale trade was also seen, plunging to its lowest ever result. Meanwhile, health community services was the only service sector to show expansion in the month, continuing its run of positive results through 2009, retail trade and cafes and restaurants continued to contract but at slower rates than previously.

It was predicted by BNZ economist Stephen Topliss that a particularly tough time was being faced the tourism industry.

(Via TopNews New Zealand. Contributed by Kohia Dennison)