China's consumer market continued to expand in May, with increasing consumption growth in both goods and services, the latest official data released on Tuesday by the State Information Center under the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's top economic planner, showed.
The data showed that in May, the total amount of offline consumer payments were up 2.4 percent year over year, with the growth rate 0.7 percentage point higher than that of April.
The year-on-year growth rates in goods consumption and service consumption reached 3.3 percent and 1.2 percent respectively, up 0.6 percentage point and 0.8 percentage point compared with the previous month, according to the data.
Electronic goods, catering services and transportation services all saw relatively rapid consumption growth in May.
Meanwhile, the index reflecting merchant business vitality improved for three consecutive months, according to the data.
"Fueled by a series of incentive policies such as trade-in subsidies and service consumption initiatives, coupled with the consumer spending boost from the May Day holiday season, the momentum for domestic demand expansion has been steadily building up. Goods consumption and service consumption have continued to recover in tandem, supporting a steady improvement in the domestic consumer market," said Xing Yuguan, an associate research fellow with the Department of Big Data Development of the State Information Center.
China's consumer market expands in May
