China’s service activities expanded in December despite broader economic slowdown
- The service sector purchasing managers’ index (PMI), compiled by Markit and published by Caixin, rose in December.
- By comparison, China’s manufacturing sector has been hit hard by an economic slowdown
Growth in the Chinese service sector accelerated to a six-month high in December, according to a private gauge released on Friday, demonstrating some resilience in the world’s second largest economy.
The service sector purchasing managers’ index (PMI), compiled by Markit and published by Chinese financial news outlet Caixin, rose to 53.9 in December. The measurement is well above 50.0, the point between expansion and contraction, showing services were performing strongly in the last month of 2018.
The pickup in the Caixin reading, which is based on a survey of over 400 companies, is a rare good news story for the Chinese economy, the prospects of which are clouded by a trade war with the United States.
Service industries, which covers a wide range of sectors from banking to catering, are increasingly important for China’s economy, as the country gets richer and its citizens’ spending power increases.
According to nominal gross domestic product figures for the third quarter of 2018, released by the National Bureau of Statistics, the services sector, also known as tertiary industries, accounted for half of China’s output in the third quarter of 2018.