BEIJING -- China's nominal retail sales grew 13.2 percent year-on-year in July to 1.85 trillion yuan ($300.2 billion), the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced on Friday.

The growth rate was down by 0.1 percentage point from June, but it was higher than the 12.7 percent growth for the first half of 2013, according to NBS data.

July data brought total retail sales value in the first seven months to 12.93 trillion yuan, up 12.8 percent year on year, the data showed.

Closer analysis showed retail sales in the urban regions hit 1.6 trillion yuan last month, up 12.9 percent year on year, while trade in rural areas reached 248.9 billion yuan, up 15 percent.

Business revenues in the catering sector rose 9.1 percent from a year ago to 199.9 billion yuan in July while merchandise sales stood at 1.65 trillion yuan, up 13.7 percent.

On a monthly basis, retail sales in July increased by 1.23 percent from June, according to the NBS data.