China's central government has moved to stop its provinces from rigging their economic growth numbers, a widespread problem that has outraged as well as embarrassed Beijing, state press reported yesterday.
Survey teams will report directly to the National Bureau of Statistics, rather than to provincial governments, which often alter their numbers to make it appear that Beijing's economic targets have been met, Xinhua news agency said.
"It often happens that local governments interfere with the accounting to make them look better than they are," Xinhua quoted Cai Zhizhou (蔡志洲), an expert in the field at Beijing University, as saying.
The head of the statistics bureau, Xie Fuzhan (
"Some census takers did not follow the collection procedures and fabricated figures to make sure official targets were reached," Xie said.
For years, economists and observers have held that China's statistics are incorrect and that the economy was expanding at a much faster pace than the official rates.
Largely to blame for the misreporting is a system that has made the pursuit of economic expansion and development the top criteria for provincial cadres' political advancement.
China's key economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission, last year warned provinces to better toe the line on Beijing's economic directives.
It issued in August a damning report that showed the economies in three quarters of China's provinces expanded at 12 percent or more in the first six months of last year, above the official national figure of 10.9 percent.
The report said the disparity meant that in the first six months of last year, China's economy was likely an estimated US$100 billion bigger than the official US$1.1 trillion figure.
To better enforce the rules, at the end of last year the statistics bureau formed its own survey teams in every province.
"The NBS will improve unified accounting of added value in the agriculture and construction industries and speed up the local GDP accounting by central government," Xie said.
Still, China's cabinet kicked off a closed-door economic conference yesterday that is expected to map out key reforms to improve the management of its increasingly complex financial sector.
Top policymakers convening the two-day National Finance Working Conference chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao (
State media said one of the key proposals would be to grant Central Huijin Investment Co (中央匯金), an investment holding company under the central bank, more independence in the administration of China's US$5 trillion worth of state assets.
Another plan on the table is to streamline the unwieldy management of China's various state economic policy agencies by creating a new super inter-agency in charge of the state's financial affairs.
China's financial system today is a mixture of archaic state-planning and new market mechanisms, which has made the management of the world's fourth largest economy increasingly difficult.
Some of the major challenges have been reforming China's securities markets, its currency and monetary policy.
Also on the cards are reform of two key state banks, including the troubled China Agricultural Bank (
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique