Chinese economic data may be overstated, say sources

Corporate executives and economists say there is evidence that local and provincial officials in China may be falsifying statistics to disguise the true extent of the country’s economic slowdown, The New York Times reported. For example, power executives said some local and provincial government officials have encouraged plant managers to underreport excess coal that is piling up in storage areas as demand for electricity slows. Meanwhile, corporate executives and economists said officials in some cities and provinces are overstating economic output, corporate revenue, corporate profits and tax receipts by urging businesses to keep a separate set of books with improving business results and tax payments that do not exist. A spokeswoman from China’s National Bureau of Statistics denied the data had been overstated. “This is not rooted in evidence,” she said.