(Finance) – improves the service sector in China. The SMEs of services developed by Caixin/S&P Global in fact rises to 51.4 points a February 2025 from the previous 51. The value remains above the key threshold of the 50 points, which indicates an expansion of the activity, and exceeds the expectations of analysts indicating a drop at 50.8 points.
“In February, the Caixin China General Services Business Activity Index reached 51.4, an increase of 0.4 points compared to the previous month. This marked the 26th consecutive month of expansion of the service activity, reporting a supported recovery – commented Wang Zhe, Senior economist at Caixin Insight Group – Both the offer and the question have grown. In an economic context improvement, service providers have continued to launch new products and increase their promotional efforts. The indicators for the business activity and the total of the new orders remained above 50 for the 26th consecutive month, both slightly increased compared to January. The external demand has improved, since the indicator for new export orders has reached the maximum of the last three months while remaining in expansive territory “.
“THE’employment remained widely stable. While the growing demand has increased hires in some companies, many others have remained cautious. In February, the employment indicator passed into positive territory, but only marginally. A slight increase in hiring, combined with continuous improvements in efficiency, has led to a modest reduction of arrears – he added – the Prices are persisted. In the midst of a drop in the cost of some raw materials, the input costs dropped for the first time since June 2020, although the drop was minimal. This has encouraged service providers to cut prices to stimulate demand, with consequent light drop in output prices “.