Govt to use 7-7.5% as working GDP target: UBS

The Chinese government will likely use 7-7.5 percent as a working GDP target for 2013, but the forecast is for actual GDP growth to reach 8 percent next year, investment bank UBS AG said in a research note on Monday.

At the Central Economic Work Conference held over the weekend, an official statement said that a "pro-active" fiscal policy and "prudent" monetary policy would be pursued, while property controls would continue, in line with market expectations.

The usual phrase of "steady and relatively rapid growth" was absent from the official statement, but the conference did stress the absolute importance of continued economic "development", and highlighted urbanization as the most important driver of domestic demand.

In addition, the conference called for an "appropriate expansion" of total social financing in 2013, which would almost certainly exceed 15 trillion yuan ($2.38 trillion) in 2012, and for "genuinely" lowering financing costs for businesses, the report said.