China jails two officials for leaking economic data

Two Chinese officials have been jailed for leaking key economic data to securities brokerages, in a rare case which triggered a government crackdown on the security of economic data, the Financial Times reported. One official from the National Bureau of Statistics received a five-year sentence and the other, from the People’s Bank of China, was sentenced six years in prison. The two men were convicted of leaking data on gross domestic product, inflation, fixed-asset investment, money supply and credit figures, in exchanged for compensation from the brokerages. Insider trading by brokers to obtain official data has been widespread in China for years, and usually moves financial markets well before official figures are released. Du Yongsheng, deputy director from a State Secrets Office warned that “[journalists] shoulder legal consequences” if they break the laws.