China’s services growth slips to five-year low in January

China’s services growth slips to five-year low in JanuaryInvestors' concerns about the Chinese economy deepened after official figures showed that services sector of the world's second-largest economy grew at the lowest rate in five years in January this year.

According to fresh data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the non-manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) slipped from 54.6 in December 2013 to 53.4 in January this year.

It may be noted here that a reading for above 50 represents expansion in a sector, while a reading of below 50 stands for contraction. According to the recently released data, China's services sector continued to grow in January, but the pace of growth slipped to its lowest since December 2008.

It was the third survey is just two weeks that showed sluggishness in the world's second biggest economy. A few days back, an official survey showed growth in China's factories dropped to a six-month low in January.

Signs of slowing activity in China and other emerging economies are prompting global investors to sell their stocks and currency investments and move to developed markets.

The ongoing tapering of the U. S. Federal Reserve's extraordinary economic stimulus programme has discouraged global investors even more from investing in emerging economies. On Wednesday last week, the Federal Reserve announced that it would slash its bond purchases by another $10 billion to $65 billion per month starting February.

A group of analysts polled by Reuters expect China's economic growth to slip from 7.7 per cent in 2013 to 7.4 per cent in 2014, the weakest growth rate in more than two decades.