BEIJING, Sept. 15 -- China's service production index went up 6.8 percent year on year in August, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Friday.

The growth rate was 1.1 percentage points faster than the previous month, it added.

The sub-reading for accommodation and catering surged by 16.1 percent year on year.

The sub-index tracking the output of the information transmission, software and IT services climbed 11.5 percent, while that for financial services expanded 7.2 percent, according to the NBS.

The index measuring business activity in the service sector stood at 50.5 percent in August, above the 50-percent boom-bust line.

The service production index increased by 8.1 percent year on year in the first eight months of 2023, and the combined revenues of major service enterprises rose 7.2 percent year on year in the first seven months of the year.

Spending in the service sector expanded significantly, providing strong support for consumption growth, said NBS spokesperson Fu Linghui, adding that the trend of sustained growth of consumption will be generally stable in the next stage, which will be conducive to economic recovery.