Spring Festival holiday retail sales expected to rise 10 pct

BEIJING - Total earnings of retail and catering enterprises in China are expected to surge by 10 percent year on year during the week-long Spring Festival holiday starting from Feb 15, Ministry of Commerce said Tuesday.

Sales revenue of these enterprises could reach 900 billion yuan (about 143 billion US dollars) during the 2018 Spring Festival holiday period, Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Bingnan told a press briefing.

China's domestic demand has steadily expanded, with consumption contributing 58.8 percent to economic growth in 2017, nearly four percentage points higher than five years ago.

Meanwhile, the added value of the service sector accounts for 60 percent of GDP, more than five percentage points higher than five years ago.