Data questioned as too rosy
By Wang Xiang |
March 13, 2010, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
DOUBTS over China's official statistics now come from on high, with several of the country's top political advisers suggesting stricter punishments for officials who generate false figures.
Some data released by local governments are generated in conference rooms rather than from accurate accounting, a political adviser told China News Service yesterday.
The unidentified adviser said the data, especially the Gross Domestic Products figure, are massaged to make officials look better.
For four consecutive years since 2006, the GDP reported by each province in China does not add up to the country's total GDP counted by the National Bureau of Statistics.
For GDP of the first half of 2009, provincial figures added up 9.9 percent higher than the national amount calculated by the statistics bureau. The disparity was a shocking 19.3 percent in 2004.
Su Wenjing, a congress member, said the situation is because higher officials consider growth rate figures the only criteria to judge the performance of local officials. He said that should change.
Wang Shaojie, a political adviser, said the country needs stricter laws to check unreliable data that could compromise the country's decision-making.
The statistics bureau's official 12.9 percent figure for the year-on-year salary increase in 2009's first half didn't square with a 8.6 percent salary drop in the same period reported in a central bank survey.
"The contradictory figures are confusing, but that reflects the data-collecting system is fraught with problems," Wang said.
The National Bureau of Statistics only counts the income of 110 million people who are in state owned enterprises and government offices, Wang explained.
Some 310 million people who are self-employed or work in private companies are neglected.
The question whether the official statistics were too rosy emerged at this year's National People's Congress meeting, when the National Bureau of Statistics said on February 28 that China's house prices increased only 1.5 percent in 2009.
The statisticians have defended their accuracy of their work by saying the index of housing prices is much too complex for normal people to grasp.
Some data released by local governments are generated in conference rooms rather than from accurate accounting, a political adviser told China News Service yesterday.
The unidentified adviser said the data, especially the Gross Domestic Products figure, are massaged to make officials look better.
For four consecutive years since 2006, the GDP reported by each province in China does not add up to the country's total GDP counted by the National Bureau of Statistics.
For GDP of the first half of 2009, provincial figures added up 9.9 percent higher than the national amount calculated by the statistics bureau. The disparity was a shocking 19.3 percent in 2004.
Su Wenjing, a congress member, said the situation is because higher officials consider growth rate figures the only criteria to judge the performance of local officials. He said that should change.
Wang Shaojie, a political adviser, said the country needs stricter laws to check unreliable data that could compromise the country's decision-making.
The statistics bureau's official 12.9 percent figure for the year-on-year salary increase in 2009's first half didn't square with a 8.6 percent salary drop in the same period reported in a central bank survey.
"The contradictory figures are confusing, but that reflects the data-collecting system is fraught with problems," Wang said.
The National Bureau of Statistics only counts the income of 110 million people who are in state owned enterprises and government offices, Wang explained.
Some 310 million people who are self-employed or work in private companies are neglected.
The question whether the official statistics were too rosy emerged at this year's National People's Congress meeting, when the National Bureau of Statistics said on February 28 that China's house prices increased only 1.5 percent in 2009.
The statisticians have defended their accuracy of their work by saying the index of housing prices is much too complex for normal people to grasp.
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