A private survey of China’s services industries has indicated an accelerated recovery in activity in the sector as consumer spending rebounds from the country’s long coronavirus lockdown, reported the Financial Times.
The Caixin/Markit services purchasing managers’ index surged to a 10-year high of 58.4 last month, up from 55 in May and a nadir of 26.5 in February, when Beijing put the world’s second-largest economy into lockdown. A PMI below 50 indicates contraction.
Wang Zhe, an economist at Caixin Insight Group, publisher of the survey, said in a note that the improvement was “pointing to an accelerating recovery” of China’s service industry.
Zhou Hao, however, an economist at Commerzbank, said while the strong PMI indicated more of the businesses of many respondents were gaining strength, it did not show the full picture. “That makes the index a misleading indicator,” said Zhou, adding that many service businesses, ranging from cinemas to private schools, remained closed while others were running at low capacity.
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