A senior economist with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on
Friday that China's officially published national accounts have
been greatly improved by progressive reforms over the past 25
years.
The remark was made by Nishnu Pant, assistant chief economist of
the Manila-based ADB, during a speech delivered to mark the release
of a ADB report designed to advise China's National Bureau of
Statistics (NBS) on how to collect statistics concerning the
service sector.
China's rapid economic growth in recent years has ignited heated
disputes over the accuracy of China's official statistics.
Pant said a recent ADB survey on the country's industrial and
service sectors, however, do not support allegations by some
economists that China's estimates of domestic gross product (GDP)
growth have been exaggerated.
The output and growth of the service sector could have been
underestimated in the official statistics, said Pant.
He said the country is gradually improving its weaknesses in
collecting statistics of the service sector, as the NBS and its
local departments have stepped up efforts in this field.
Pant advised the country's national and local statistics
collectors to set up a scientific sampling survey system covering
all types of enterprises in the service sector, including
incorporated companies and individually-owned businesses.
Pant said a recent pilot survey in Beijing under the supervision
of ADB indicated that statistics from the country's service sector
could be improved, and the pilot survey already marked an important
step of NBS towards data collection according to international
practice.
"There is still a gap between China and developed countries in
terms of the accuracy of the national accounts," said Peng Zhilong,
an NBS senior official, "we will keep improving the estimation of
our national economy, making it up to the international
standard."
The ADB is currently helping China improve NBS's statistics
collection of the service sector, as invited by the Chinese
government.
(Xinhua News Agency September 22, 2007)
