Expanding space for service sector will sustain economic growth

THE ADDED VALUE of the service sector in China reached 42.7 trillion yuan ($6.8 trillion) last year, accounting for 51.6 percent of the country's gross domestic product, 11.1 percentage points higher than the secondary industry. The service industry contributed 58.8 percent of the country's economic growth in 2106, 1.3 percentage points higher than 2016, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Beijing Youth Daily comments:

Services are the main driving force for China's economic growth. This is an important change that comes from the government's unwavering efforts to deepen supply-side structural reform.

With the growth in foreign trade and investment slowing last year, the service sector's fast growth played a leading role in the country's 6.9 percent GDP growth last year, higher than the anticipated 6.5 percent.