BEIJING, Jan. 6 -- Chinese government, eager to improve the accuracy of its economic statistics, will centralize data collection to ensure quality control, according to a report in the Economic Daily Thursday.

    The State Council, or Cabinet, had decided to place all statistical survey teams under the direct management of the National Bureau of Statistics, the newspaper said. The new rule comes into effect Feb. 1.

    The reforms would help strengthen the authority of the Central Government's statistics, guarantee the trustfulness of statistics and improve the quality of national accounting, the newspaper quoted a senior official at the bureau as saying.

    Some local officials have been known to inflate economic figures for political gains, leading to a gap between the aggregate of local figures and those published by the Central Government and fuelling scepticism about the accuracy of China's data.

    That prompted the National Bureau of Statistics, which employs about 95,000 people, to centralize provincial reporting of gross domestic product figures from this year.

    In December, the bureau released the findings of its first national economic census, which increased the official estimate of the size of the world¡¯s fastest-growing major economy by a sixth, reflecting better information on the service sector.

    China's leaders have approved the 11th five-year plan (2006-2010), which calls for a more balanced, energy-efficient and environmentally friendly economy. Enditem

    (Source: Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)