Service trade deficit widens last month

Source: Xinhua | 2016-12-28

CHINA saw a bigger foreign service trade deficit in November, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said yesterday.

The deficit stood at US$25.4 billion last month, up from US$20.9 billion in October and US$23.3 billion in September, SAFE data showed.

Income from trade in services was US$23.7 billion last month, while expenditures totaled US$49.1 billion.

Distinct from goods trade, trade in services refers to the sale and delivery of intangible products such as transport, tourism, telecommunications, construction, advertising, computing and accounting.

China’s service trade volume grew from US$362.4 billion in 2010 to US$713 billion in 2015, doubling the average international growth speed in the sector. China is aiming to increase its service trade volume to over US$1 trillion by 2020.

The State Council has pledged to further develop services trade, including opening up the finance, education, culture and medical sectors.

SAFE began releasing monthly data on service trade in January 2014 to improve the transparency of balance of payments statistics. Since the start of 2015, it has also included monthly data on merchandise trade in its reports.

China’s surplus in foreign goods trade fell from US$49.9 billion in October to US$45.9 billion in November.