Domestic retail sales kept the growing momentum in previous months and registered an increase of 23.2 percent in August, said the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday.

The growth rate was 6.2 percentage points higher than the same period last year and 0.1 percentage points lower than the previous month. The August retail sales totaled 876.8 billion yuan (US$128.9 billion).

The retail sales kept growing despite the drop in consumer price index (CPI), which reflected a strong consumption in domestic market, said Zhang Liqun, a researcher with the Development and Research Center of the State Council.

It brings China's retail sales of consumer goods in the first eight months of this year to 6,843.9 billion yuan, up 21.9 percent, compared with a 15.7 growth recorded during the same period last year.

The drive behind the retail sales is the government policies in past years to increase income and promote domestic demand, said Zhang. But whether the trend would continue is yet uncertain.

Negative factors might dampen sales, which included reduced employment and income caused by bad enterprise performance, and weaker consumer confidence caused by economic slowdown.

Urban consumption jumped 23.9 percent year on year to 601.5 billion yuan, while rural residents spent 275.3 billion yuan, up 21.8 percent.

Whole sale and retail sales hit 736.1 billion yuan, up 23.2 percent, while hotel and catering industry reported 124.5 yuan, up 26.3 percent. Retail sales in other industries reached 16.2 billion yuan, up 2.6 percent.

Automobile sales grew by 19 percent, while oil and related products jumped 49.4 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency September 12, 2008)