A delivery service provider sorts packages for shipping to e-commerce consumers in Kunshan, Jiangsu province. (PHOTO / XINHUA)
BEIJING – China continued to see a deficit in foreign service trade in July, data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) showed Friday.
Income from trade in services stood at US$27.8 billion dollars last month, while expenditure was US$34.5 billion, resulting in a deficit of US$6.7 billion.
The deficit widened from the US$6.2 billion dollars a month earlier
The deficit widened from the US$6.2 billion dollars a month earlier.
In contrast to merchandise trade, trade in services refers to the sale and delivery of intangible products such as transportation, tourism, telecommunications, construction, advertising, computing, and accounting.
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China has taken steps to improve the development of trade in services, including gradually opening up the finance, education, culture, and medical treatment sectors.
The SAFE began issuing monthly data on the 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.
Last month, China saw a surplus of US$44.9 billion in foreign merchandise trade.
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