The per capita disposable income of the Beijing citizens reached 11,698.9 yuan (US$1,442.5) in the first eight months of this year, indicating a yearly rise of 12.6 percent, the latest statistics from the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics show.

During the period, the per capita cash income of the rural residents increased by 13 percent year-on-year to reach 6,065 yuan (747.8 US dollars), the bureau said.

Yu Xiuqin, spokesperson for the bureau, attributed the rise mainly to an increase in salaries of urban residents and an increase of household business earnings for rural residents.

From January to August, the salary of urban residents increased by 17.8 percent year-on-year, while the rise of household business earnings contributed 83.8 percent to the increase of cash income for the rural residents, Yu said.

Meanwhile, prices dropped slightly, Yu said. From January to August, the consumer price index was 101.7 percent, basically the same with that of the first seven months, but 0.1 percentage points lower than that of the first quarter, statistics show.

The bureau said the consumer market was stable during the period. Statistics also show that Beijing reported retail sales of 189.76 billion yuan (23.4 billion US dollars), up 10.8 percent, and the spending on consumption of per urban resident was 8,581.4 yuan (1,058 US dollars), up 9.4 percent.

The auto market was recovering gradually during the period, the bureau said.

In the first eight months, a total of 368,000 motor vehicles were sold, up 20.4 percent year-on-year, including 245,000 new ones, up 14.5 percent, statistics show.

(Xinhua News Agency September 14, 2005)