China revises up size of its economy to reflect R&D spending

[BEIJING] China has revised up the size of its economy by adding research and development (R&D) spending into gross domestic product (GDP) calculations, the country's statistics bureau said on Tuesday.

The new method has increased the value of GDP but has only slightly affected annual growth rates, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement posted on its website.

The bureau added that GDP calculation change mainly reflects contribution to growth from research and development spending.

The size of the economy was revised up by 1.3 per cent in 2015, the bureau said.

Annual economic growth for 2015 was amended marginally, but basically remained 6.9 per cent, and the growth rate for 2014, also adjusted fractionally, stayed at 7.3 per cent. The growth rate for 2013 was revised to 7.8 per cent from 7.7 per cent.

REUTERS