China's retail sales up 23.2 pct in August
12/9/2008 17:15
Domestic retail sales kept the growing momentum in previous months and
registered an increase of 23.2 percent in August, said the National Bureau of
Statistics (NBS) today.
The growth rate was 6.2 percentage points higher than
the same period last year and 0.1 percentage points lower than the previous
month. The August retail sales totaled 876.8 billion yuan (US$128.9
billion).
The retail sales kept growing despite the drop in consumer price
index (CPI), which reflected a strong consumption in domestic market, said Zhang
Liqun, a researcher with the Development and Research Center of the State
Council.
It brings China's retail sales of consumer goods in the first eight
months of this year to 6,843.9 billion yuan, up 21.9 percent, compared with a
15.7 growth recorded during the same period last year.
The drive behind the
retail sales is the government policies in past years to increase income and
promote domestic demand, said Zhang. But whether the trend would continue is yet
uncertain.
Negative factors might dampen sales, which included reduced
employment and income caused by bad enterprise performance, and weaker consumer
confidence caused by economic slowdown.
Urban consumption jumped 23.9 percent
year on year to 601.5 billion yuan, while rural residents spent 275.3 billion
yuan, up 21.8 percent.
Whole sale and retail sales hit 736.1 billion yuan, up
23.2 percent, while hotel and catering industry reported 124.5 yuan, up 26.3
percent. Retail sales in other industries reached 16.2 billion yuan, up 2.6
percent.
Automobile sales grew by 19 percent, while oil and related products
jumped 49.4 percent.
Xinhua
|
