China retail sales up 5.4 pct in August

BEIJING, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- China's retail sales of consumer goods, a major indicator of the country's consumption strength, went up 5.4 percent year on year in August, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Friday.

The growth quickened from a 2.7 percent increase registered in July.

NBS spokesperson Fu Linghui attributed the faster growth to improved market demand boosted by pro-consumption measures.

The country's retail sales of consumer goods totaled 3.63 trillion yuan (about 523.2 billion U.S. dollars) in August, according to the NBS.

In the first eight months, retail sales rose 0.5 percent year on year to 28.26 trillion yuan, compared with a 0.2 percent fall in the January-July period.

"This shows that China has great demand potential. With pro-consumption policies, there are conditions and foundations for a gradual recovery in consumption," Fu said.

Online consumption continued to shore up retail sales. In the first eight months, online sales of physical goods climbed 5.8 percent year on year, accounting for 25.6 percent of the country's total retail sales.

With policies to boost demand taking effect, catering revenues swung back to growth in August, rising 8.4 percent year on year, compared with a 1.5 percent decline logged in July.