CHINA’S top statistician said Sunday that anyone caught falsifying economic data would face zero tolerance and be punished under the law.

    There has been skepticism about the reliability of economic data, especially as the government has sought to reduce expectations of a protracted slowdown in the country.

    In January, the “rustbelt” northeastern province of Liaoning said in its annual work report it had falsified reporting of fiscal data from 2011 to 2014.

    Speaking on the sidelines of the annual meeting of parliament, Ning Jizhe, head of the National Statistics Bureau, said violations would be investigated and punished.

    “As soon as there are statistical cases that break the law or faked, it will be voted down, there will be zero tolerance, no appeasement,” said Ning, who is also Vice Chairman of the planning body the National Development and Reform Commission.

    The combined economic output of China’s provinces has long exceeded national output measured by the National Bureau of Statistics, raising suspicions that local officials were overstating performance.

    The gap has been narrowing, but the discrepancy between provincial GDP and the national figure was still 2.76 trillion yuan (US$399.71 billion) last year, according to a Reuters calculation.(SD-Agencies)