Growth in China's retail sales slowed slightly in July, but economists said a strong trend of sturdy spending remained intact.
The value of sales last month was 13.7 per cent greater than a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said today.
That was softer than June's 13.9 per cent increase and undershot forecasts of a 14.0 per cent rise. But economists warned against reading too much into the figures, saying a drop in consumer price inflation in July, to 1.0 per cent from 1.5 per cent in June, probably depressed the headline increase.
Retail sales in the first seven months rose 13.4 per cent from a year earlier. For all of 2005 they rose 12.9 per cent, and in 2004 they increased 13.3 per cent.