China is planning to relax further its restrictions on foreign investment in the service sector, including in education and finance, Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

Shen Danyang, spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, also said in a press conference on Thursday the Government would make the market “fairer, more transparent, and more predictable” for foreign investment.

In the first two months of this year the foreign direct investment inflows into China rose 2.7 percent from the previous year, to US$22.52 billion, the Ministry said earlier this month.

Mr Shen also noted the country’s trade conditions this year were expected to be more severe than in 2015. China’s exports in February suffered the largest fall since May 2009, declining by 25.4 percent year-on-year in U.S. dollar terms.

But he noted there was an “increasing growth momentum in foreign trade” in recent times. “We expect declines in trade will gradually ease after March,” he added.