Banking, tutoring and healthcare are the holy grail both for China’s policymakers and its international investors. As Beijing looks to services to rev up slowing economic growth, private equity and others are buying into hospitals, English schools and consumer lenders.
Property sales and factory construction are slowing but people in China are eagerly availing themselves of healthcare, tutoring and movie tickets. Beijing’s slow-burning bid to rebalance the economy towards consumption has received a boost from services, which account for 51 per cent of GDP, up from 44 per cent in 2011.
The economy is on track for its weakest full-year growth in a quarter of a century. Without rapid expansion in financial services, education and healthcare, among other services, the overall slowdown would have been much worse.