China's services imports to exceed 2.5 trln USD in next 5 years

China's cumulative services imports are expected to exceed 2.5 trillion U.S. dollars in the next five years, a Ministry of Commerce (MOC) report showed Tuesday.

Container Terminal.[Photo:VCG]

The country's services imports will account for more than 10 percent of the global services imports, contributing over 20 percent to the growth in the global total in the coming five years, according to the report.

During the period, China will see over 700 billion dollars of cumulative imports in emerging services, including charges for the use of intellectual property, telecommunications, computer and information services, financial services, and personal cultural and recreational services, the report showed.

"This will provide a broader market, more valuable cooperation opportunities and greater benefits for the world," said Xian Guoyi, head of the MOC's department of trade in services and commercial services, at a press conference held during the first China International Import Expo (CIIE).

China has seen fast growth in imports of services since its entry to the World Trade Organization. Its services imports surged to 467.6 billion dollars in 2017 from 39.3 billion dollars in 2001, with its global share increasing to 9 percent from 2.6 percent, MOC data showed.

"We will continue to expand the opening up of the services sector, improve the service system for services imports, create a sound market environment, deepen multilateral and bilateral trade cooperation, and increase imports of high-quality services," Xian said.

An array of advanced services provided by foreign firms, including financial and health care services, are on display at the six-day CIIE, which opened Monday.