China's services imports see rapid growth

China's imports of services grew at an average annual pace of 8.6 percent from 2012 to 2019, and are expected to continue to grow at a faster pace than the global average in the next five years.

The Report on China's Services Import 2020 compiled by the Ministry of Commerce was released on Friday at the China International Import Expo, recording the development of the country's imports of services in recent years and their contribution to the world economy.

It also introduces the measures taken by China to promote the opening-up of the service industry and speeding construction of a new open economic system, demonstrating the achievements of cooperation between China and its trading partners and the potential of the country's service imports in the future, said Chen Chunjiang, director general of the department of service trade and business services at the ministry.

The scale of China's service imports is continuously expanding, and has maintained its second position in the world since 2013.

From 2012 to 2019, China's imports of services grew at an average annual rate of 8.6 percent, reaching US$500.68 billion, 4.8 percentage points faster than the global growth in the same period, to account for 8.6 percent of the global total.

The quality of China's service imports is also improving. Imports in tourism have grown at an average annual rate of 16.9 percent since the 18th CPC National Congress, 3.6 times the global pace over the same period, while the import of personal cultural and entertainment services has expanded by 33.7 percent per year in average, which is five times the global growth rate.

The steady increase in imports of productive services has also promoted high-quality development of China's economy, Chen said. 

Since the 18th congress, imports of telecommunications, computers and information services have grown at an average annual rate of 23.3 percent, 3.5 times the global growth rate, while imports in financial services advanced at an average 16.1 percent per year, 5.7 times the global pace.

"China's imports of services have made new contributions to the world economy and bolstered the steady growth of global trade in services," Chen said.

The country has imported a total of US$3.4 trillion in services since the 18th congress, accounting for 17.1 percent of the global total, ranking first in the world in terms of its contribution to the growth of global services imports.

Meanwhile, China's increasing imports of digital services have also been a major driver of global digital trade, Chen said.

According to World Trade Organization data, China's digital services imports have totaled US$834.51 billion since the 18th congress, with an average annual growth of 6 percent, contributing 4.4 percent to the global figure.

"The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 has had a severe impact on trade in goods and traditional services, but it also gave birth to the foundation for the development of digital trade," Chen said.

Services such as remote health care, online education and cross-border e-commerce have been widely used during the period, playing an important role in maintaining economic stability of all countries and promoting international cooperation.

From January to August this year, China imported US$89.01 billion worth of digital services, an increase of 5.6 percent over the same period last year.

The country's services imports have also contributed to global employment, providing more than 18 million jobs to its trading partners in 2019, and creating nearly 400,000 jobs for African countries every year, according to statistics from the World Bank and the United Nations International Labour Organization.

China is committed to further expanding imports of high-quality services, Chen said.

The country is expected to see the cumulative scale of services imports reach US$2.5 trillion to account for over 10 percent of the global total in the next five years, with the growth pace faster than the global average.

Among them, tourism imports are expected to top US$1 trillion, while the cumulative imports in digital services including intellectual property royalties, telecommunications, computer and information services, financial services, insurance services and other commercial services will exceed US$1.3 trillion.

The ministry also pledged to further optimize the business environment in legalization, internationalization and facilitation, and continue to improve the legal environment for trade in services.