China's services trade reports rapid growth in first three quarters

BEIJING, Nov. 5: China's services trade saw rapid growth in the first three quarters of the year, including a steep increase in the trade of travel-related services, official data showed on Tuesday.

The country's services trade totalled nearly 5.52 trillion yuan (about 777.29 billion U.S. dollars) between January and September, up 14.5 per cent year on year, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

Services exports exceeded 2.27 trillion yuan, up 15.3 per cent, and services imports rose 14 per cent to over 3.24 trillion yuan, resulting in a deficit of 971.46 billion yuan.

Trade in travel-related services skyrocketed 42.8 per cent to surpass 1.5 trillion yuan, and trade in knowledge-intensive services rose 5.3 per cent to 2.13 trillion yuan.