China's retail sales rose 15.2 percent in May year on year to 1 trillion yuan (about US$146.8 billion), the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced on Friday.

The growth rate was 0.4 percentage point higher than the April level.

Urban retail sales rose 15 percent to 684 billion yuan, while rural sales were up 15.6 percent to 318.8 billion yuan.

From January to May, retail sales stood at 4.88 trillion yuan, up 15 percent from a year earlier, according to the NBS.

Wholesale and retail sales rose 15.1 percent to 848.6 billion yuan year on year in May, while catering and hotel activity were up 17.2 percent to 141.1 billion yuan.

(Xinhua News Agency June 12, 2009)