(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-15 06:57

China's annual retail sales growth accelerated to 16.4 percent in July, the highest monthly increase since May 2004, indicating strong household spending.

The growth rate in June was 16 percent.

Retail sales in cities increased by 16.7 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics said, while those in counties and areas below county level grew by 15.8 percent.

The sales value of meat, eggs and poultry jumped 51.4 percent in July from a year earlier, up from a 36 percent growth in June. Grain and edible oil sales increased 45.2 percent.

Sales of jewelry and auto products also rose strongly, with a growth rate of 45.9 percent and 42.7 percent.

The recent acceleration of retail sales is widely attributed to higher incomes.

China's urban disposable incomes rose 14.2 percent year-on-year in the first half.

Rural cash wages increased by 13.3 percent. Both were in real terms.

Government efforts to provide more social welfare services may also have helped boost consumer spending.

The government has taken a slew of initiatives to reduce public confidence on spending capacity and make the economy less dependent on investment and exports.

The government has increased its budget for education and health this year, as people save in anticipation of future spending.

The education budget for this year is 85.9 billion yuan ($11.3 billion), up 41.7 percent on 2006.

Health funding jumped 87 percent to reach 31.3 billion yuan ($4.1 billion) at the same time.