The booming Zhejiang Province in east China recorded 463.2 billion yuan (57.1 billion U.S. dollars) in retail sales last year, a growth of 14.2 percent year-on-year.

Allowing for price rises, the real-term growth was 13.2 percent, up 0.7 percentage points from the previous-year level, said the provincial statistical bureau.

Retail sales of food, garments, daily necessities and sports and recreational articles went up 19.7 percent, 23.9 percent, 17.5 percent and 28.5 percent respectively.

Last year urbanites in Zhejiang spent 12,254 yuan per capita on consumer goods, while rural dwellers spent 5,215 yuan per capita for the same purpose, up 15.2 percent and 11.9 percent respectively.

The bureau said the growth rates would be revised to 13.5 percent and 10.2 percent respectively allowing for price rises.

In a related development, Zhejiang's consumer price index, or CPI, went up 1.3 percent last year, yet the growth rate was 2.6 percentage points lower than the year-earlier level.

Source: Xinhua