China's Q1 goods, services trade surplus exceeds $60b

BEIJING -- The surplus of China's goods and services trade reached more than $60 billion in the first quarter of this year, a relatively high level for the same period in history, official data showed Thursday.

Supported by the surplus of trade in goods and services, China's current account surplus remained within a reasonable and balanced range in the January-March period, Wang Chunying, deputy director and spokesperson of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, told a press conference.

"Looking ahead, China's current account has the foundation and conditions to sustain a certain scale of reasonable surplus," Wang noted, citing the effects of a high level of goods trade surplus and the optimized structure of China's services trade.

China's exports will be supported by new growth drivers such as high-end manufacturing products and new energy vehicles, and new business modes such as cross-border e-commerce, Wang said, adding that external demand for increasing inventories will further boost exports of many Chinese products.

Wang also highlighted the role of travel in promoting China's services trade as Chinese residents' cross-border trips are gradually recovering, and more foreigners are travelling to China driven by visa facilitation policies and more convenient payment services.

The steady increase in the export of production-purposed services such as telecommunications, information and business services will also contribute to more balanced development of services trade, Wang said.