China to ‘relentlessly break evil trends’ of forged data to tackle ‘outstanding problems’ of fraud
- ‘The problem of statistical data fraud is still relatively prominent’ in China, according to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI)
- China has set an annual economic growth target of ‘around 5.5 per cent’ this year, but economists have questioned if the country is able to achieve it
China will step up scrutiny of the country’s statistics agency and tackle the “outstanding problems” of data fraud and falsification, the Communist Party’s anti-corruption inspection unit said on Friday.
The NBS publishes China’s closely watched gross domestic product (GDP) numbers, among other key data.
A few regions created the “illusion of economic development” by falsifying data and some local authorities issued secret instructions to intervene in manipulating data.
01:25
China aims for modest 5.5% GDP growth in 2022, citing economic pressures
Data fraud is being found in more areas, including research and development funding ratios, energy intensity and carbon intensity that typically reflects the quality of economic and social development, the anti-corruption watchdog said.
Energy intensity and carbon intensity indicate the amount of energy consumed and carbon emitted per unit of GDP, and are used to gauge the progress of a country’s campaign to tackle climate change.
Inspectors from the CCDI added that some local officials prioritise economic growth and ignore other areas of economic development, or seek to show off their personal achievements through statistics.
The CCDI will carry out random inspections on data quality on a regular basis and supervise the establishment of an accountability system among local authorities to prevent and punish statistical fraud.
“We will relentlessly break the evil trends [of forging data],” it said.
