BEIJING -- China's retail sales grew 11.9 percent year on year to 2.11 trillion yuan ($343.3 billion) in August, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Saturday.

Retail sales in the first eight months amounted to 16.6 trillion yuan, up 12.1 percent year on year, with the growth remaining largely stable compared to the 12.2-percent growth registered for Jan.-July.

Income from the catering sector increased 8.4 percent to 230 billion yuan in August, while sales of consumer goods amounted to 1.88 trillion yuan, up 12.3 percent year on year, the data showed.

Retail sales growth in rural areas continued to outpace that in urban China. In August, sales in rural regions rose 12.8 percent from a year ago to 282.8 billion yuan, while sales in urban areas climbed 11.8 percent to 1.83 trillion yuan.

The NBS also said that online retail sales saw robust growth in August, with total sales value hitting 250.6 billion yuan in the month, up 54.9 percent year on year.

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