Total retail sales in China reached 3.036 trillion Chinese yuan in May, an increase of 8.5% year over year, according to the latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics.

On a month-to-month basis, growth slowed from the 9.4% year-over-year rise posted for April.

In urban areas of the country, May retail sales grew 8.3% on the year to 2.609 trillion yuan, while in rural areas they rose 9.6% to 426.7 billion yuan.

The revenue of restaurants and catering businesses for the month climbed 8.8% year over year to 332.1 billion yuan, while sales of consumer goods were 2.704 billion yuan, up 8.4% from a year prior.

Combining the first five months of the year, China's total retail sales amounted to 14.918 trillion yuan, a year-over-year increase of 9.5%.

During the five-month period, online retail sales in the country surged 30.7% year over year to 3.269 trillion yuan. Among these, e-commerce sales of consumer goods grew 30% to 2.482 trillion yuan, accounting for 16.6% of the total retail sales in China.

As of June 13, US$1 was equivalent to 6.40 Chinese yuan.