Retail sales of consumer commodities hit 471.57 billion yuan (about 58.15 billion US dollars) in Guangdong Province, a gate to the outside world in south China, in the first eight months of the year.

The figure represents a rise of 14.7 percent from the same period last year, and the growth rate is 1.1 percentage points more than that of January-August period last year, said information from the provincial statistical bureau.

During the first eight months of the year, the market prices in Guangdong went up by 2.6 percent from the same period last year, with the growth rate falling by 0.2 percentage points according to the growth range of January-July period this year.

Of the total, retail sales of the catering trade reached 73.66 billion yuan during the January-August period of the year, up 17.2 percent, and that of petroleum and related products topped 29 billion yuan (3.58 billion US dollars), up 20.7 percent, while retail sales of automotive products were 27.82 billion yuan (3.43 billion US dollars), up 20.4 percent.

Source: Xinhua