AAP
China's inflation rate was 2.6 per cent in 2013, official data shows - well below the 3.5 per cent target set by the government in the world's second-biggest economy.
The consumer price index (CPI) figure, a main gauge of inflation, was released by the National Bureau of Statistics and was unchanged from 2012.
For the month of December, inflation came in at 2.5 per cent compared with the same month the year before, slowing from the 3.0 per cent year-on-year figure registered in November.
The December result was the same as the median increase of 2.5 per cent predicted in a survey of 13 economists by Dow Jones Newswires.
The benign inflation data came as China's economy showed some signs of strength in the second half of last year after a growth slowdown during the first six months.
China's economy probably grew 7.6 per cent in 2013, according to a government report cited by state media last month, slightly above the country's official target and just below the figue of 7.7 per cent in 2012, the lowest in 13 years.
