China's service trade deficit narrows in January

China's foreign service trade deficit narrowed in January while surplus in goods trade widened, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said on Monday.

The deficit stood at 20.9 billion U.S. dollars in January, down from26.1 billion dollars in December, SAFE data showed.

Income from trade in services was 21.8 billion U.S. dollars, while expenditure totaled 42.6 billion dollars.

Trade in services refers to the sale and delivery of intangible products such as transport, tourism, telecommunications, construction, advertising, computing and accounting.

China regularly holds a deficit in service trade as its service sector is less competitive than some other economies.

In contrast, China runs a large surplus in merchandise trade, as manufacturing operates at a reasonable cost.

In January, China saw a surplus of 53.5 billion dollars in goods trade, up from 43.9 billion dollars in December. Endi