Consumer spending weakens

Smaller cities feeling the pinch of economic slowdown, says report

Chinese consumers are planning to spend less as their confidence in the economy falls, and shoppers in smaller cities especially are showing an unexpected reluctance to splash the cash, according to a report by The Boston Consulting Group released on Monday.

While what looks like a healthy 27 percent of Chinese consumers said they planned to spend more in 2013 - a percentage much higher than in developed economies - the figure was still an 11 percent drop from last year's 38 percent, said the study, which was based on an April poll of 1,000 consumers in 12 Chinese cities.