China's non-manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) marginally declined in April to 53.5 from 53.8 in March, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Sunday. The non-manufacturing PMI is a measurement of factory activities outside factory floors, mainly in service and real estate sectors.  

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The service sector sub-index declined to 52.5 from 53.1 in March, whereas service new-orders sub index dropped to 48.7 from 50.8. However, activities in the real estate sector increased to 1.4 points from 59.4 in April.

The data revealed that service-related industries such as storage, tourism, accommodation, and telecommunications posted healthy growth in the month of April. However, the catering, insurance, wholesale and repairing industries reported a decline in their business.

The NBS also revealed manufacturing PMI data for the month of April, which fell to 50.1 in April from 50.2 in March.       

Economic experts said that they were a little disappointed over the latest non-manufacturing PMI data. Especially considering that March's PMI data was far better and had fuelled hope for economic revival.       

Critics say that April's non-manufacturing PMI data proves that China's economic revival still has a long way to go.  Analysts are not sure of the exact time span of China's economic revival, but many agree that the slowdown will persist for quite some time.       

The Chinese economy is currently witnessing its worst slowdown in over two decades. China economy grew by 6.9 percent in 2015 - the slowest economic growth in 25 years. Most economic indicators have come under severe stress owing to the unprecedented slowdown, with China's stock markets and forex reserves witnessing a sharp decline.

Tagschina, Chinese Economy, Chinese PMI Data, Chinese Manufacturing