BEIJING - China's retail sales grew 10 percent year on year to 2.24 trillion yuan ($366 billion) in April, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday.

In the first four months, retail sales grew 10.4 percent.

Growth in rural areas outpaced that in cities.

Sales in rural areas rose 11.4 percent in April and 11.5 percent in January-April period, in contrast to the 9.8 percent and 10.2 percent growth seen in urban areas.

Related story: Retail sales to grow slower in 2015, by Xinhua

BEIJING - China's retail sales will grow 11 percent year on year in 2015, Yu Bin, a researcher with the Development Research Center of the State Council, forecasted on Friday.

That would be a slight slowing from the 12 percent annual gain seen in 2014, which Yu said would be attributable to sluggish property and auto sales.

A Moody's research note said in January that property sales in China will decline by up to 5 percent in 2015, compared to a 7.8 percent decline in 2014.

China's auto sales growth slowed in the first quarter this year, according to data issued by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers on Thursday. The 3.9 percent year-on-year growth marked a significant deceleration from the 9.2 percent rise in the first quarter of 2014 and the 6.9 percent increase for the whole of 2014.