BEIJING, March 11-- China's retail sales grew 10.7 percent year on year to 4.8 trillion yuan (779 billion U.S. dollars) in the first two months of 2015, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday.

The rate slowed from the 12-percent annual gain seen in 2014.

Minsheng Securities attributed the slowdown to China's anti-corruption drive, sluggish property sales, as well as the economic downturn's effect on public spending.

In breakdown, the catering sector reported an 11.2-percent year-on-year rise in revenues, while sales of other consumer products increased 10.7 percent.

Online retail sales continued to be a bright spot, surging 44.6 percent year on year to 475.1 billion yuan.

To steer the economy onto a more sustainable track, the government has been at pains to drive more domestic consumption, rather than over-relying on investment and exports.

Consumption contributed 51.2 percent to GDP growth last year, three percentage points more than the previous year.