China's retail sales rose 14.8 percent in April year on year to 934.32 billion yuan (136.8 billion U.S. dollars), the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced Wednesday.

The growth rate was 0.1 percentage point higher than in March.

Urban retail sales rose 13.9 percent to 632.96 billion yuan, while rural sales were up 16.7 percent to 301.36 billion yuan.

From January to April, retail sales totaled 3.87 trillion yuan, up 15 percent over the same period last year.

Vehicle sales rose 18.5 percent year on year in April, the highest rate of growth among all consumer products. Sales of construction and interior decoration materials rose 10.8 percent, and grain and edible oil sales were up 4.8 percent.

Telecommunications equipment sales, however, fell 8.4 percent, the NBS said.

"Government stimulus policies have been playing a big part in retail sales, such as reducing purchase taxes for small cars and subsidies for farmers to buy agricultural equipment," an economic researcher at Tsinghua University in Beijing, Yuan Gangming, said.

But he also warned that the impact of the global downturn might affect consumers in the coming months as falling exports and salaries might take some time to have an effect on individuals.

The NBS also said domestic car production rose 17.9 percent year on year in April to 1.18 million units. Sedan production surged 17.3 percent to 589,000 units.

(Xinhua News Agency May 13, 2009)