Analyst: Price hikes will be modest in 2013

When the final tallies come in, China's economic growth and inflation in 2012 may have done better than government targets.

Zhang Xiaoqiang, vice-minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, China's major economic policymaking body, told a forum that economic growth may have hit 7.7 percent in 2012, exceeding the government's full-year target of 7.5 percent.