(ATF) China’s trade in services fell in the first five months this year amid the coronavirus epidemic, but the deficit narrowed for a second month as the nation’s economy moved back into gear.
The services trade totalled 1.87 trillion yuan ($264.8 billion) during the period, down 14.6% year-on-year, Ministry of Commerce spokesman Gao Feng said at a press conference Thursday.
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.
Services exports amounted to 759.3bn yuan in the January-May period, down by 2.3%, while imports decreased by 21.5% year on year to 1.11 trillion yuan.
Meanwhile, the services trade deficit stood at 350bn yuan, dropping by 285.2bn yuan from the same period last year.
The Ministry of Commerce said China’s trade of knowledge-intensive services jumped 8.7%.
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