BEIJING, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- China's retail sales of consumer goods have continued to see stable growth last month with robust online shopping, according to official data.

The indicator for consumption grew 8.1 percent year-on-year in November, slightly slower than the 8.6-percent rise in October, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Friday.

NBS spokesperson Mao Shengyong said at a press conference that the growth generally remained stable.

Mao attributed the mild slowdown to retreating car purchases and falling petroleum product prices, which dragged down the headline growth rate by 0.7 percentage points.

"The sharp fall back in automobile sales contributed a relatively big margin of the spending slowdown, which is also a common problem of some developed countries and many developing economies in the world," Mao said.

With a 24.1-percent growth pace, online goods sales continued to serve as a bright spot.

Friday's data also showed retail sales in rural areas increased 9.3 percent, still outpacing the 7.9-percent rise in urban regions. The catering sector reported an 8.6-percent increase in revenue.

In the first 11 months, retail sales grew 9.1 percent to reach 34.51 trillion yuan (about 5 trillion U.S. dollars).

With the world's largest population and the world's largest middle-income group, China still has room to improve its consumption, Mao said. "Pro-consumption policies rolled out this year, such as the higher personal income tax threshold, will help expand household spending."

Mao added that China's consumption would maintain steady growth in 2019 with its potential better unleashed. Enditem

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