China’s retail sales hit a 10-year-high growth rate of 23% year-on-year to RMB864.2 billion (US$126.7 billion) in June.

Nationwide sales was 5.1 trillion yuan (US$744.36 bil) during the first six months of 2008, up 21.4%, or 12.9% in real terms, according to the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS). China’s GDP grew 10.1% in the second quarter of 2008 and inflation slowed to 7.1% in June.

Recent findings from MasterCard indicate that retail sales growth will continue to be strong in Asia Pacific’s 12 markets for the rest of the year, riding on the back of robust economic growth and relatively strong income and employment conditions supporting consumer spending.

China is expected to lead the region with a 18% growth YoY in retail sales to 5.566 trillion yuan (US$813.5 billion) in the second half of this year, while Hong Kong’s retail sales are anticipated to increase 12.7% from a year ago to HK$136.8 bil (US$17.5 bil).

In comparison, Taiwan’s retail sales growth is lagging the region and expected to rise only 2.9% YoY to NT$1.729 trillion (US$56.42 billion).

Sales growth YoY in Japan will be virtually flat in the next 6 months to reach an expected US$573.3 billion, as MasterCard forecasted only 1.4% real GDP growth for the mature market this year.