China's economy recorded a 10.3 percent growth in 2010, coming back strongly from the global crisis, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Thursday showed.

China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 9.8 percent in the fourth quarter after the fast-growing Asian giant's economy grew an average 10.6 percent in the first three quarters of 2010. The World Bank has estimated China's GDP growth to be 10 percent in 2010.

Data showed inflation remained high at 4.6 percent though it showed downward movement in December 2010. China has been battling higher commodities prices and asset bubble fears as the economy got into a high-speed growth track in recent years. Chinese CPI was 5.1 percent in November last year.

According to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), the economy will grow at a rate higher than 10 percent this year. However, the scorching pace of growth has faced pushed Chinese policy makers into clamping down on a commodities price boom ad inflation which could cause asset bubbles.

An adviser to the central bank said on Tuesday that the People’s Bank of China could hike interest rates in the first quarter of the year after doing so twice in the last few months. The Chinese central bank had raised interest rates by 25 basis points to 5.81 percent in December. China stepped off the stimulus route by raising rates in October last year, the first rate hike in nearly three years.

While the global economy was largely paralyzed by the great meltdown of 2008 China managed to boom back into the mix of things by virtue of a massive 4 trillion-yuan stimulus spending and the adoption of loose monetary policies.

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