Briefly

Services trade falls, gap narrows sharply

China's services trade fell in 2020 due to the COVID-19 epidemic and other factors, but the trade deficit continued to narrow sharply, data from the Ministry of Commerce showed. The country's total services trade volume reached over 4.56 trillion yuan ($705.83 billion) last year, down 15.7 percent year-on-year. The MOC highlighted strong growth in China's trade of knowledge-intensive services, which increased by 8.3 percent year-on-year in the period, accounting for 44.5 percent of the total trade in services.

Recovery, yuan fuel inflows into bonds

Overseas investors raised their holdings of Chinese bonds for the 26th month in a row in January, fueled by faster-than-expected economic recovery and a firming yuan. Overseas investors held Chinese bonds worth 3.06 trillion yuan ($473.6 billion) in January, surging 62 percent year-on-year, data from China Central Depository& Clearing Co Ltd showed. The volume marked an increase of 5.96 percent from the end of 2020.

Xinhua