China's inflation seen around 3%

China's consumer price inflation is forecast to be around 3 per cent in 2013, the price monitoring unit of the country's top economic planning agency, the National Development & Reform Commission, said on Monday.

For the first quarter, consumer prices are expected to rise around 2.8 per cent from the same period a year earlier, it said in remarks carried in the official China Securities Journal.

Last week, outgoing premier Wen Jiabao, speaking at the opening of the annual session of parliament, said China would target economic growth of 7.5 per cent and inflation at 3.5 per cent.

Yi Gang, vice governor of the People's Bank of China, said last week that inflation in China this year could touch 3 per cent, up from 2.6 per cent last year.

The country's annual inflation rate hit a 10-month high of 3.2 per cent in February, as holiday spending for the Lunar New Year drove food prices sharply higher, data showed last week.

* Reuters