Another Chinese region faked fiscal data, anti-corruption agency says

[BEIJING] Some parts of northern China's Inner Mongolia have fabricated fiscal data, China's anti-corruption agency said, making it the third Chinese region exposed for data falsification after the rust-belt provinces of Liaoning and Jilin.

The latest finding will bolster long-existing scepticism about the reliability of Chinese economic data, reflects local governments' penchant for inflating statistics amid a protracted slowdown in the world's second-largest economy.

In a summary of its findings from an inspection tour of eight provinces and government institutions, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said on Sunday that "some places" in the autonomous region had faked data.

It did not provide details.

In January, the northeastern province of Liaoning said in its annual work report that the government had falsified reporting of fiscal data from 2011 to 2014, a rare incident that prompted authorities to ramp up rhetoric against data fraud and to improve data quality.

REUTERS