Retail sales were up 13.8 percent during the seven-day holiday period that began Jan. 25 compared with the same period of 2008, the Commerce Ministry reported on the weekend. That was down from December's 17.4 percent monthly expansion in retail spending. Last year's holiday sales were dampened by severe winter storms, setting a low basis for comparison.
Beijing is spending hundreds of billions of dollars to stimulate consumer spending as the centerpiece of an effort to shield China from the global economic slowdown. Economic growth in the final quarter of 2008 slowed to 6.8 percent from 9 percent in the previous quarter.
Lunar New Year is China's biggest family holiday and retailers, restaurants, airlines and other businesses depend on the period for a big share of their annual sales.
Retail sales growth should fall further in coming months, said by Xu Xiaofang, an analyst for Guotai Junan Securites in Beijing.
"Usually retailing figures lag the real economy by six to eight months," Xu said. "Since the economy slumped dramatically in the last three months of 2008, retail sales are expected to be hit in the first half of this year."
This year's holiday retail spending was driven by a 25.6 percent jump in appliance sales as the government subsidized purchases by rural households. Food sales climbed 23 percent, while spending on tobacco and alcohol rose 14.7 percent.
In the southern business capital of Guangzhou, the city government organized a campaign to promote sales with about 10,000 companies offering discounts, the ministry said.
Spending on tourism over the same seven-day period rose 23.1 percent compared with the same time in 2008, as tens of millions of people visited relatives and vacation spots, the Cabinet's National Holiday Office said in a report.
Holiday travel this year saw few snags, in contrast with 2008, when the worst winter storms in decades paralyzed road and rail travel.
