BEIJING - Growth in China's retail sales slowed to 11.8 percent, or 4.23 trillion yuan ($690 billion), year on year in the first two months of the year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Thursday.

The growth rate in December stood at 13.6 percent.

Urban consumption in the first two months amounted to 3.65 trillion yuan, up 11.7 percent year on year. Rural residents spent 581.4 billion yuan, up 12.8 percent, the NBS data showed.

The catering sector reported 441.4 billion yuan in revenues, up 9.6 percent year on year, while retail sales of consumer goods stood at 3.8 trillion yuan, up 12.1 percent.

After being adjusted for inflation, retail sales went up 10.8 percent in the first two months.

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