China's H1 growth up 7.4%, showing economic resilience

BEIJING -- Chinese consumer confidence rebounded for a second month in July on a month-on-month basis amid an upward trend for economic growth, according to an index released on Saturday.

The Bankcard Consumer Confidence Index (BCCI), compiled by Xinhua News Agency and China UnionPay, a national bank card association, edged up 0.06 point from June to 85.33 points in July.

A higher reading in the index shows a boost in consumers' desire to spend.

A report released along with the index attributed the rebound mainly to rising consumption in tourism during the summer holiday and promotions by businesses.

Last month, the spending of bank card users in hotels and plane tickets rose 13.05 percent and 34.29 percent from June, respectively, and spending on tickets for large tourist resorts soared 61.81 percent.

The report forecast that consumer confidence may continue to rise on an upward trend for economic growth in the next few months, as the government has adopted a raft of pro-growth measures, including stepping up construction of affordable housing and infrastructure building.

The BCCI index, first released in April 2009, is based on bank card transaction data and analyses of changes in urban consumption.