China's 2008 retail sales up 21.6% but slow throughout 2H

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-01-22 11:43

BEIJING - China's retail sales grew 21.6 percent in 2008, although growth decelerated during the second half amid the economic downturn, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Thursday.

The full-year growth rate was 4.8 percentage points higher than in 2007 but down from 21.9 percent for the January-to-November period.

As consumer sentiment weakened and inflation eased, year-on-year retail sales growth decelerated continuously during the second half, from 23.3 percent in July to 20.8 percent in November and further to 19 percent in December.

"Sales growth may continue to decelerate this year," Wang Xiaoguang, director of the Research Institute under the National Development and Reform Commission, told Xinhua.

He said it could take a long time before the government's economic stimulus package began to increase consumer spending.

"Domestic sales growth remained relatively fast and consumption in urban and rural areas remained robust," NBS spokesman Ma Jiantang told a press conference.