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March 17, 2012

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Home » Business » Economy

Bureau vows to stop data fudging

THE National Bureau of Statistics has pledged to prevent local governments from manipulating economic data after revealing for the first time that some local entities had falsified facts and figures.

The bureau posted two cases on its website involving breaches in relevant statistical laws and regulations, and said it will crack down on such misdeeds to boost people's confidence in the country's statistics system.

According to the bureau, the government of Yongchuan District in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality was suspected of violations against statistical laws and regulations, as it required a preview and approval of companies' data reporting before submission to the bureau.

The other case was about officers at the Hejin City's statistics bureau in north China's Shanxi Province ordering companies to submit fake data prepared by the local bureau itself.

"We hope companies will reject and report any acts involving statistical data manipulation, forgery and distortion. Any organizations or individuals who falsify data will face exposure and serious punishment by the national bureau in accordance with the law," a bureau official said.

In 2011, the 31 provincial-level governments reported a combined gross domestic product of 51.8 trillion yuan (US$8.2 trillion), 4.6 trillion yuan higher than the figure calculated by the National Bureau of Statistics, Economic Daily reported last month.

Too many layers in China's former data collecting system added inaccuracies and discrepancies. However, China established a unified system on February 18, through which enterprises can upload data directly on to the national statistics database. This is expected to contain the source of data distortion by eliminating redundant submissions and limiting the opportunities for local officials to interfere with data, the bureau said.




 

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