China retail sales up 10.7% in Jan-Feb

BEIJING -- China's retail sales grew 10.7 percent year on year to 4.8 trillion yuan ($779 billion) in the first two months of 2015, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday.

The rate slowed from the 12-percent annual gain seen in 2014.

Minsheng Securities attributed the slowdown to China's anti-corruption drive, sluggish property sales, as well as the economic downturn's effect on public spending.

In breakdown, the catering sector reported an 11.2-percent year-on-year rise in revenues, while sales of other consumer products increased 10.7 percent.

Online retail sales continued to be a bright spot, surging 44.6 percent year on year to 475.1 billion yuan.

To steer the economy onto a more sustainable track, the government has been at pains to drive more domestic consumption, rather than over-relying on investment and exports.

Consumption contributed 51.2 percent to GDP growth last year, three percentage points more than the previous year.