Beijing – Official data show that China’s foreign service trade deficit narrowed in February.
The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said in a statement that the deficit fell to $20.6 billion last month from $22.8 billion in January.
Service trade income last month was $15.8 billion, while spending was $36.4 billion.
In contrast to commodity trade, trade in services refers to the sale and delivery of intangible products such as transportation, tourism, telecommunications, construction, advertising, computing and accounting.
China has taken measures to strengthen the development of trade in services, including the gradual opening up of the financial, education, cultural and medical sectors.
The State Administration of Foreign Exchange began to publish monthly service trade data in January 2014 to improve the transparency of balance of payments statistics. Since the beginning of 2015, it has also included monthly data on trade in goods in its report.
Last month, China’s foreign trade surplus was $8.5 billion, down from $46 billion in January.
