Domestic retail sales leaped a brisk 23.3 percent to 862.9 billion yuan (US$125.8 billion) in July this year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Wednesday.

The growth rate was 6.9 percentage points higher than the same period last year and 0.3 percentage points higher than the previous month.

That brings China's retail sales of consumer goods in the first seven months of this year to 5.9672 trillion yuan, up 21.7 percent, compared with 15.5 percent growth rate recorded over the same period of last year, the NBS said.

The NBS said urban consumption hit 590.5 billion yuan, up 24 percent year-on-year, compared with 272.4 billion yuan spent by rural residents, up 21.8 percent.

Wholesale and retail sales rose 23.3 percent to 730.3 billion yuan, while catering and hotel activity rose 26.5 percent to 116.8 billion yuan.

Clothing sales rose 26.8 percent, while daily consumer goods were up 19.5 percent and household appliances were up 18.8 percent. Grain and edible oil jumped 18.3 percent year-on-year.

(Xinhua News Agency August 13, 2008)