China's local GDP figures to be released by central government

Chinese provincial gross domestic product (GDP) figures will be released nationally by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) starting in 2005, NBS chief said in Beijing Monday.

The change will make the locally released GDP statistics invalid, said Li Deshui, director of NBS. However, local departments are still announcing their 2004 figures.

Li said that the change will check inflated local figures. This reform is only one of a number of other major reforms in how China deals with its statistics. Another is the examination and approval of GDP figures from the local levels by a higher level of government.

Speaking at a national conference on statistics, Li listed the major tasks for the country's statisticians in 2005, including the first economic census of the country and better monitoring of the country's economic and social activities.

Priority will be given to monitoring the operations of the agricultural and investment sectors and the changes of prices, he said.

The director also asked localities to further standardize the process of releasing statistics and increase the contents, making the figures more useful to the public.

Source: Xinhua