Cooking the books: Government officials in China’s ‘rust belt’ falsified economic figures

Provincial government officials in the northeast of China have admitted seriously falsifying economic data for years, leading to distorted policy decisions and fomenting corruption in the region, according to report by the state-run news agency Xinhua.

The officials admitted falsifying statistics after the Communist Party’s graft watchdog examined inflated figures issued by cadres, the report said.

It was one of a series of articles about economic problems in the northeast, dubbed China’s rust belt, a region formally dominated by now ailing state-owned heavy industries.

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The data had suggested that the economic scale of some areas in Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning provinces was greater than that of Hong Kong, Xinhua cited Zhao Zhenqi, a law maker in Jilin, as saying.

The public has long questioned the credibility government statistics issued in China.

Figures for growth and the size of economies issued by local governments often come up with a higher total for the economy as a whole than national figures compiled by the National Bureau of Statistics.

“The wave of falsifying data in some parts of northeastern provinces was particularly strong, which not only misguided planning and the decisions of central and local governments, but also evolved into a corruptive push to jeopardise the party and political conduct and harm government credibility,” Xinhua said.