BEIJING, July 15 (Xinhua) -- Retail sales of goods and services in China, an important indicator of consumption power, increased by 2.7 percent in the first half of the year compared to the same period last year.
According to the data announced by the China National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday, retail sales in the service sector increased by 5.3 percent in the said period compared to the same period last year, and retail goods sales increased by 1.1 percent.
In service consumption, rapid growth was seen in the categories of communication and information services, tourism consultancy and rental services, and cultural, sports and entertainment services.
In the first half, retail sales of consumer goods, which include sales of physical consumer goods and income from food and beverage services, increased by 1.3 percent compared to the same period last year, reaching 24.87 trillion yuan (about 3.66 trillion US dollars).
Retail sales of consumer goods increased by 1.2 percent in urban areas and 2.5 percent in rural areas.