BEIJING - China's retail sales grew 17 percent year-on-year to reach 16.35 trillion yuan ($2.58 trillion) during the first 11 months of the year, the National Bureau of Statistics said Friday.

After deducting inflation, actual growth stood at 11.4 percent, the NBS said in a statement on its website.

In November, the country's retail sales increased 17.3 percent from one year earlier to hit 1.61 trillion yuan. After adjusting for inflation, November's actual growth rate was 12.8 percent.

On a monthly basis, retail sales rose 1.27 percent last month, according to the statement.

Urban retail sales increased 17.3 percent year-on-year to 1.4 trillion yuan last month, while rural retail sales climbed 17.2 percent to hit 216 billion yuan.

In November, the nation's catering sector generated sales of 186.5 billion yuan, a rise of 17.7 percent from a year earlier, while commodity retail sales increased 17.2 percent to 1.43 trillion yuan.

Auto sales rose 11.4 percent to hit 189.7 billion yuan during the same period. The growth rate was 1.2 percentage points lower than that in October, the NBS said.

Sales of home appliances and audiovisual equipment climbed 25 percent to 44 billion yuan last month, while sales of furniture rose 34.4 percent to 12.1 billion yuan, according to the statement.