China's upbeat service sector signals rising domestic demand: Financial Times

LONDON - China's service sector expanded in August, indicating "improved domestic demand as the country's economic recovery continues to gather pace," said the Financial Times in a recent report.

The purchasing managers' index (PMI) for China's non-manufacturing sector came in at 55.2 in August, up from 54.2 in July, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Monday.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion while a reading below it reflects contraction. The non-manufacturing PMI has remained above 50 for six months in a row, data from the NBS showed.

The improving service sector suggests that China's economic recovery is "feeding through into businesses that were hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak and subsequent measures to contain its spread," said the report.

China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced on July 14 that travel agencies and online tourism companies were allowed to resume their trans-provincial group tours gradually, which unleashed domestic travel demand.

The resumption could stimulate more spending on services, Iris Pang, chief economist for greater China at Dutch multinational banking and financial services corporation ING, was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

"There will be more jobs in the service sector because of this travel recovery, (and) with more jobs people will be more confident to spend," she said. "I think this is sustainable."