Li's predicament underscores challenges for China's economically crucial services sector as it bets on a post-COVID revival. With the virus spreading unchecked across the country now, representatives from the services sector say frequent lockdowns have left them without money to expand. "There is still a shortage of labour in the services sector in the big cities, and the loss of productivity is quite obvious," said Dan Wang, chief economist at Hang Seng Bank China. CONSUMPTION REVIVALRetail sales, a key gauge of consumption, dropped 5.9% in November from a year earlier, and catering fell by 8.4% amid broad-based weakness in the services sector. Some in the service sector say there remains some hope.

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