China's consumer spending continued to grow strongly as retail sales of consumer goods rose 17.1 percent in April from a year ago, the statistics authorities announced Wednesday.

In April, China's retail sales totaled 1.36 trillion yuan (210.2 billion U.S. dollars), 1.35 percent higher than March, according to figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

However, April's 17.1 percent year-on-year growth was 0.3 percentage points lower than that of March, said the NBS.

Urban retail sales increased 17.3 percent year on year to 1.18 trillion yuan, faster than the 16.3 percent rise in rural areas which totaled 180.3 billion yuan, said the NBS.

From January to April this year, China's retail sales grew 16.5 percent from the same period last year to 5.66 trillion yuan, faster than a 16.3 percent annual increase for the first quarter, according to the NBS.