China's retail sales, the main gauge of consumer spending, rose 17.9 percent year on year in July to 1.22 trillion yuan (180.8 billion U.S. dollars), the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced Wednesday.

The retail sales growth rate in July was down by 0.4 percentage points from that of June, figures from the NBS show.

The July figure brought total retail sales in the first seven months to 8.49 trillion yuan, up 18.2 percent over the same period last year.

Urban consumption hit 1.06 trillion yuan in July, up 18.2 percent, while rural residents spent 159.8 billion yuan, up 16.1 percent.

The catering sector reported 141.4 billion yuan of revenues in July, up 18.2 percent year on year. While the retail goods trade was valued at 1.08 trillion yuan, up 17.9 percent.