China sees bigger service trade deficit in November

BEIJING - China saw a bigger foreign service trade deficit in November, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said Tuesday.

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

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

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

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

The State Council has pledged measures to improve the development of services trade, including gradually opening up the finance, education, culture and medical sectors.

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

In November, China saw a surplus of $45.9 billion in foreign goods trade, down from $49.9 billion in October, according to the SAFE.