Services stay in the driving seat

Sector's expansion shows improved quality of growth amid upgrading

China's service sector expanded by 7 percent year-on-year in the first half of the year, driven by the fast growth of information technology, transportation and financial service companies, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday.

The service industry continues to be a strong driver of the economy, outperforming the overall GDP growth of 6.3 percent in the first half of the year as well as industrial growth of 6 percent during the same period.