BEIJING (AFP) -- China's retail sales, the main indicator of consumer spending in the Asian nation's fast-growing economy, rose 14.2 percent in May compared with a year earlier, official data showed Tuesday.

In the first five months of 2006, retail sales were up 13.2 percent compared with the same period last year to be worth 3.04 trillion yuan (379 billion dollars), the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.

Retail sales for May alone totaled 617.6 billion yuan, with the 14.2 percent rise ticking higher than growth of 13.6 percent in April.

According to the bureau, retail sales in the hotel and catering industry were up 17 percent during May, while sales in the entertainment and leisure industry were up 23.5 percent.

The higher figures reflected a rise in spending during the nation's week-long Labor Day holiday at the beginning of May.

Inflation also picked up slightly in May, with the consumer price index rising 1.4 percent in the month compared with 1.2 percent in April, according to government data released on Monday.

Monday's data showed inflation appeared to have bottomed out in March, when it came in at 0.8 percent, following rises of 0.9 percent rise in February and 1.9 percent in January.

China's consumer price index ran at 1.8 percent for all of 2005.

Ma Jun, an economist at Deutsche Bank China, said the 14.2 percent rise in May retail sales was stronger than expected, giving Beijing extra leeway to tighten monetary policy in their ongoing efforts to slow investment.

"The government can afford to tighten (monetary policy) to slow down investment given the strong consumption growth," Ma said.

A key strategy for China's economic planners is to reduce the nation's reliance on investment and exports, and to boost consumption as an alternative growth driver.

China announced Monday its trade surplus reached 13 billion dollars in May and 46.79 billion dollars for the first five months of the year.

The May performance was sharply higher than the surplus of 10.46 billion dollars recorded in April and set the nation on course to surpass last year's record surplus of 101.9 billion dollars.

With investment and exports continuing to expand at nearly twice the rate of retail sales, authorities have expressed concerns about overheating following economic growth of 10.3 percent in the first quarter.

Consumers remain reluctant to spend given their comparatively low incomes and their need to save in the absence of a well-developed social security net.