The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is to receive US$450,000 in a technical assistance grant from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to help improve the coverage and accuracy of Chinese statistics. The money will come from the Japan Special Fund financed by the Japanese government.
ADB experts believe that official figures on output and value-added in the services sector may be underestimates because of incomplete coverage and the underpricing of services such as schools, public housing and public transportation.
They also note that while information is collected at the village, county, city and province levels, data is aggregated by provincial governments before they pass it on the NBS. This limits the bureau's ability to make checks and seasonal adjustments, and compare different periods. The separation between government and statistical functions at the local level also gives some provinces the opportunity to misreport data.