China retail sales growth slows to 22 pct in October
12/11/2008 16:52
China's retail sales grew at a slower annual rate of 22 percent in October
due to easing inflation and weak consumption sentiment amid a slowing
economy.
Sales reached 1.008 trillion yuan (US$148 billion) last month, the
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced today. The pace was down from 23.2
percent in both September and August and 23.3 percent in July.
Retail sales
in the year to October rose 22 percent annually to 8.8 trillion yuan, according
to the NBS.
Grain and edible oil sales rose 10.2 percent last month from a
year earlier, compared with 28.6 percent in the first three quarters.
Sales
of meat, poultry and eggs rose 13.1 percent and car sales rose 19.6 percent,
down from 25.6 percent and 29.1 percent, respectively, in the year to
September.
Rises in consumer prices slowed to 4 percent in October, easing
for a sixth month and off from the nearly 12-year-high of 8.7 percent in
February.
Many consumers also cut back on spending on the slowing economy,
grim corporate outlook, and plunge on the stock market.
The economy expanded
9 percent annually in the third quarter, down from 10.1 percent in the second
quarter and 10.6 percent in the first quarter.
The benchmark Shanghai
Composite Index has fallen 70 percent from its peak in mid-October last year. It
slid 15.05 points, or 0.82 percent, to 1,828.56 before the noon break as the
dismal sales number added fresh concerns over an economic slowdown.
Economic
data released yesterday showed October export growth slowed further to 19.2
percent from 21.5 percent in September.
"In the long term, economic growth
should rely more on consumption, rather than on exports," said Zhang Yansheng,
director of International Economic Research Institute under the National
Development and Reform Commission.
Xinhua
|
