China to boost service industry
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-04-23 09:21

Though service industry has been growing faster than the overall economy over the past 25 years, the Chinese government believes there is still great room for the sector's future development.

Ou Xinqian, deputy minister of the State Development and Reform Commission (SDRC), said at a seminar in Beijing Thursday that China's service industry is at a turning point toward faster growth.

The service industry has already become a major growth area of employment in China. From 1978 to 2003, it increased its share in total employment of the country from 12.2 percent to 29.3 percent.

The new leadership of China has given priority to further increasing the share of service industry in the nation's gross domestic product (GDP).

Now, service industry accounts for 32.3 percent of the GDP, lower than the global average of 63.4 percent. Moreover, modernized service sectors such as finance, information industry, consultation, research and development, education, tourism, broadcasting and press contribute to less than 30 percent of the total service output.

Li Deshui, head of the National Bureau of Statistics, told the seminar that the figure may undervalue the real importance of service industry in China's economy. He said that though China has adopted internationally recognized principles in calculating the GDP, the scope and content of data collected are still different from those in the West.

The Asian Development Bank launched a program to improve the statistical calculation of service output in China in last December.

Li Jiange, deputy director of the governmental think tank Development Research Center (DRC), said at the seminar that the Chinese government should deregulate the market and introduce more competition into service industry.

He said non-governmental capital should be allowed to enter currently state-dominated sectors, including banking, insurance, securities, retailing, railway, aviation, education, culture, public health, broadcasting and press.

Meanwhile, he said, the government should formulate rational regulations for crucial sectors to guide the development of service industry.

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