Service sector key to future growth

In his Government Work Report on Thursday, Premier Li Keqiang stressed the importance of supporting the service industry with preferential policies. In fact, the government should set up a more ambitious goal of the service industry in the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020).

The transition from an economy dominated by manufacturing to one dominated by services will not only help to achieve the 7 percent GDP growth target at a time when exports and investment are losing steam, it will also help China avoid the middle-income trap.

In fact, the service industry has already grown quickly during the 12th Five-year Plan period (2011-15). Last year, the output of China's service industry was more than 30.7 trillion yuan ($4.9 trillion), 48.2 percent of GDP, 5.6 percentage points higher than the secondary industry.