China removes economic data chief amid probe

Hong Kong

CHINA removed Wang Baoan as head of the national statistics bureau, in a case that risks further undermining confidence in government economic data.

Mr Wang, 52, was sacked from the National Bureau of Statistics under suspicion of "severe disciplinary violations", the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing the organisational department of the ruling Communist Party's Central Committee. The decision to remove Mr Wang from both his party and government posts came just three days after the Central Committee of Discipline Inspection announced the suspected violations, using the party's usual euphemism for corruption.

While the anti-graft body didn't describe the nature of the claims against Mr Wang, the investigation comes amid scepticism about whether China provides an accurate picture of its slowing economy. The latest doubts were fanned this month as data showed the gap between the country's reported exports to Hong Kong and the shipments registered by the territory widened in December, suggesting a fresh round of fake trade-invoicing may have been spurred by currency market moves.

"Most people may see this as net positive because it isn't a surprise to anybody dealing with China that there are widespread corruption problems," said Andrew Gilholm, head of China analysis at Control Risks Group in Shanghai. "In the financial sector though, credibility takes a hit especially after the mishandling of the stock-market rescue." Mr Wang personally defended the bureau's record just days before his investigation was announced. "The GDP we published is genuine and credible," he said at a Jan 19 briefing, citing tax data that supports the readings and the size of his survey team.

The case isn't likely to be related to Mr Wang's statistics work because he only joined the bureau in April, Bloomberg Intelligence Economist Fielding Chen said. "The investigations more likely relate to previous posts at the Ministry of Finance, where he worked in various capacities since the 1990s," Mr Chen said.

Mr Wang is among scores of high-profile officials to fall since President Xi Jinping took power and launched an unprecedented nationwide crackdown on corruption. The campaign has spread to the finance industry and its regulators in the wake of a US$5 trillion stocks rout mid last year.

Mr Xi earlier this month vowed not to ease the campaign, saying he's determined to make China a place where "nobody dares to be corrupt". After snaring about 100 high-ranking "tigers" and thousands of other mid-level officials, the campaign would this year increase its focus on local corruption, he said. Bloomberg