Retail sales growth down sharply in China
11 Mar 2013
Growth in China's retail sales suffered a sharp slowdown in the first two months of the year, in part due to the austerity campaign initiated by the government.
Retail sales growth stood at 12.3 per cent year on year to at 3.78 trillion yuan (602.1 billion US $) in the first two months of the year, a fall sharply from the 15.2-per cent increase in December, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The growth was also muted against the 14.5-per cent target the government expected for 2013.
The catering sector reported revenues of 403 billion yuan, up 8.4 per cent year on year but down 6.7 percentage points from the December growth rate according to NBS data.
Notably retail sales by businesses over a designated size proved to be the only item in the table to log negative growth, down 3.3 per cent year on year, in part due to the central government's anti-extravagance drive during the period.
High-end restaurants in cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Ningbo saw revenues decline by 35, 20 and 30 per cent, respectively, year on year in January, according to ministry of commerce spokesman Shen Danyan, who spoke at a press conference last month.
