The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said it expected retail sales would reach the targeted annual growth rate of 9% for 2003 despite the SARS crisis pulling the growth rate of retail sales to a low of 6.6% in the second quarter.
In October retail sales grew 10.2% – the fastest pace in two years — and November's retail sales rose 9.7%.
The SARS epidemic was expected to have caused a loss of RMB 65 billion (US$7.85 billion) to the hotel industry.