BEIJING - China's services trade sustained fast growth momentum in the first four months of this year, with travel-related services recording rapid increases, official data showed on Friday.

Services exports came in at 984.69 billion yuan in the January-April period, rising 11 percent from the same period last year, and services imports went up 21.2 percent year-on-year to about 1.45 trillion yuan, resulting in a deficit of 462.58 billion yuan

The country's services trade totaled 2.43 trillion yuan (about $341.74 billion) in the first four months, up 16.8 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

Services exports came in at 984.69 billion yuan in the January-April period, rising 11 percent from the same period last year, and services imports went up 21.2 percent year-on-year to about 1.45 trillion yuan, resulting in a deficit of 462.58 billion yuan.

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Travel services saw a stellar performance in the first four months, becoming a key pillar of China's services trade. Imports and exports of travel services totaled 660.03 billion yuan from January to April, a remarkable increase of 48.6 percent year on year.

Trade in knowledge-intensive services rose 6.4 percent year-on-year to 963.72 billion yuan, the data revealed.