BEIJING - China saw a bigger deficit in foreign service trade in July compared with the previous month, data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) showed on Monday.

Service trade deficit was 107.6 billion yuan ($16.8 billion) in July, increasing from 90.9 billion yuan in June, according to SAFE.

Last month, income from trade in services stood at 116.9 billion yuan, while expenditure in service trade was 224.5 billion yuan, the data revealed.

Distinct from merchandise trade, trade in services covers intangible products such as transportation, tourism, telecommunications, construction, advertising, computing and accounting.

SAFE began issuing monthly data on service trade in January 2014 to improve transparency on balance of payments. Since the start of 2015, monthly data on merchandise trade has also been included in the reports.

This year, the State Council pledged to accelerate the development of trade in services, including the gradual opening up of the finance, education, culture and medical treatment sectors.