BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) -- China's retail sales of consumer goods, a major indicator of the country's consumption strength, further picked up in the first quarter (Q1) of this year as the economy recovered from the COVID-19 impact.
In Q1, retail sales went up 33.9 percent year on year to 10.5 trillion yuan (about 1.6 trillion U.S. dollars), reversing from declines in Q1 2020, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Friday.
Average Q1 growth for the past two years stood at 4.2 percent, the NBS said.
In March, retail sales surged 34.2 percent year on year and was 12.9 percent higher from the 2019 level. The two-year average growth was 6.3 percent.
The catering industry reported a 75.8-percent year-on-year increase in revenue in Q1, as the hardest-hit sector continued to recover from the COVID-19 disruptions.
Online consumption maintained steady growth, with online retail sales rising 29.9 percent year on year in Q1.
Friday's data showed that China's gross domestic product (GDP) reached 24.93 trillion yuan in Q1, up 18.3 percent year on year. Enditem
