China retail sales up 10.2% in 2017

BEIJING - China's retail sales of consumer goods grew 10.2 percent year-on-year to reach 36.63 trillion yuan ($5.69 trillion) in 2017, official data showed Thursday.

The expansion was 0.2 percentage points slower than the previous year. In December alone, retail sales went up 9.4 percent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The data showed strong consumption potential in rural areas, with retail sales surging 11.8 percent last year, outpacing the 10 percent rate in urban areas.

Online spending continued to be a bright spot, which saw sales jumping 32.2 percent to reach 7.18 trillion yuan.

Retail sales have contributed significantly to China's economic growth as the country shifts from an export-driven economy to a consumer society.

Consumption contributed 58.8 percent of China's economic expansion in 2017.