THE country’s cumulative service imports are expected to exceed US$2.5 trillion in the next five years, a Ministry of Commerce (MOC) report showed yesterday.

The country’s service imports will account for more than 10 percent of global service imports, contributing over 20 percent to total global growth in the next five years, according to the Report on China Services Imports released at the ongoing China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai.

It is the first report on service imports issued by the Chinese government.

In the next five years, China’s imports of travel services are expected to exceed 1.4 trillion U.S. dollars, while Chinese tourists will make an estimated total of 700 million outbound trips as the country’s consumption power grows, the report showed.

During the period, China will see over US$700 billion  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.

“This will provide a broader market, more valuable cooperation opportunities and greater benefits to the world,” said Xian Guoyi, head of MOC’s department of trade in services and commercial services, at a press conference at the CIIE.

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

In terms of the global travel industry, China’s outbound travel consumption has contributed about 16.7 percent of the added value and created about a quarter of jobs in recent years, according to the report.

“We will continue to expand the opening-up of the service 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 event starting from Monday.

A total of 172 countries, regions and international organizations from five continents are showcasing their development achievements and international image at the CIIE.

(Xinhua)