International Law

Chinese New Year retail sales up 16 precent

By Chris Devonshire-Ellis

Consumer spending up despite poor weather conditions

Feb 14 - China’s retail sales, the country’s key gauge of consumer spending, surged 16 percent during the weeklong Spring Festival holiday despite the worst winter storms in 50 year buffeting the country. Consumers spent RMB255 billion (US$34.9 billion) over the holiday, up from RMB219.8 billion in the same period last year, the Ministry of Commerce has reported.

The growth rate compares with 16.8 percent for all of 2007 and 15 percent during last year’s holiday. These ?Golden Week? holidays ? of which Chinese New Year is just one - were launched in 1999 to encourage people to spend more money for the benefit of economic growth. (more…)

Full post as published by China Briefing Blog on February 13, 2008 (boomark / email).