Visitors interact with a robot at a services trade fair in Beijing. File photo: IC

 
 

China's services sector and services trade are expected to maintain upward momentum in the second half of the year, supported by strong industrial foundations, sustained development momentum, and the country's economic resilience, a top executive with global accountancy firm Ernst & Young told the Global Times ahead of the opening of 2024 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS).

The development of China's services sector has to date shown positive growing trends. The services industry in China has increased to a greater level of openness, setting a new record for services trade volume, highlighted with thriving tourism and knowledge-intensive services sector, Jack Chan, EY China chairman, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

"The structure of services trade is continuously improving with the emergence of new models and business categories. And we are seeing a mutual promotion and synergy between services trade and the services industry," Chan said. 

China's services trade saw rapid growth in the first half of 2024, with notable increase in the trade of travel-related services, data from China's Ministry of Commerce showed in August. 

In the first half of 2024, total trade in services reached 3.59 trillion yuan ($501 billion), up by 14 percent year-on-year. Trade in travel-related services surged by 47.7 percent to reach 961.7 billion, while trade in knowledge-intensive services rose 3.7 percent to over 1.4 trillion yuan.

Knowledge-intensive services trade is providing robust support for industrial innovation, economic structure transformation and consumption upgrade, and is becoming a new engine for the services trade growth, Chan noted.

Chan said that new business models are continuously emerging in the field of services consumption, adding fresh impetus to the expansion of domestic demand and providing strong support for the high-quality development of the world's second-largest economy.

The resolution adopted by the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in July called for adopting innovative measures to boost trade in services, and fully apply the "negative list" for cross-border trade in services. 

"We will promote comprehensive trials and demonstrations for expanding opening up of the services sector and encourage specialized services organizations to enhance their capacity for providing international services," the resolution reads.

The National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planner, said on Sunday that it will work with other government agencies to further advance the opening-up of the services sector.

The commission is currently revising the catalog of encouraged foreign investment industries, increasing access to the services sector, according to a NDRC official.

According to Chan, a range of recently introduced policy measures will further broaden China's scope of opening-up in the services sector, creating new opportunities for the growth of foreign trade and investment, driving the upgrade of services sector structure.