Retail sales of consumer goods up 13.5 percent in first three quarters

China's retail sales of consumer goods rose to 5.5 trillion yuan (688.6 billion U.S. dollars) in the first nine months, up 13.5 percent from the same period last year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced on Thursday.

NBS spokesman Li Xiaochao said the growth rate was half a percentage point higher than the same period a year ago.

In September, sales hit 655.4 billion yuan (819 billion dollars), up 13.9 percent from September last year.

Retail sales in urban China rose 14.1 percent to 3.72 trillion yuan (465.6 billion dollars), and by 12.3 percent in counties, towns and villages to 1.78 trillion yuan (223 billion dollars).

The sales in the wholesale and retail sectors reached 4.64 trillion yuan (580.5 billion dollars), up 13.5 percent over the same period last year. Catering and hotel figures were up 15.8 percent to 749.3 billion yuan (93.7 billion dollars ).

Li said communications sector sales grew 23.8 percent, oil and oil products were up 37.1 percent, and automobiles 26 percent.

Source: Xinhua