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Growth in China's retail sales slowed sharply to the lowest expansion rate in five years in May, rising just 4.3% year on year as the outbreak of SARS deterred consumer spending, official figures issued Monday show.

Total retail sales increased to 346.3 billion yuan (US$41.83 billion) during May, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement, slightly more than total sales of 340.7 billion yuan in the previous month.

The May result is below market expectations which centered on a rise of 5.3% on year after April retail sales rose 7.7% from a year earlier.

Anti-SARS measures and the public's reluctance to visit shops and markets in May hammered consumer spending.

A shortened May Day holiday, cut back from seven days to help contain the spread of the epidemic, was also expected to have contributed to the slowdown in retail sales growth.

Since 1999, China has introduced three "Golden Week" holidays each year which have helped to boost spending, particularly on catering and tourism.

The statistics bureau hasn't issued a year-to-date percentage change for retail sales since the end of the first quarter. In that three-month period, retail sales rose 9.2% on year to 1.11 trillion yuan.

China's first case of the potentially fatal severe acute respiratory syndrome is suspected to have occurred in November in the southern province of Guangdong.

In April the disease spread to Beijing and many other Chinese cities, resulting in more than 5300 people being infected.

Strict measures were implemented to contain the spread of the epidemic since April, including cutting back the May Day holiday, shuttering some restaurants and entertainment venues and restricting internal travel.

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