Is China faking economic recovery?

Venkatesan Vembu / DNA

Hong Kong: Cynical crunchers of statistical data believe there are three degrees of 'mistruths': lies, damned lies and statistics.

Increasingly, economy watchers are beginning to believe falsehood could go a step beyond: China's GDP numbers. Ever since the official Chinese statistical agency announced earlier this year that the country's GDP grew 6.1% in the first quarter of 2009, there have been murmurs of scepticism about the authenticity of those figures. A few have observed that the GDP data are inconsistent with other data, such as weak power production.

Those murmurs have in recent weeks turned into a high-decibel chorus that is beginning to openly rubbish the validity of the official numbers.

"The Q1 6.1% GDP outturn is simply a lie," notes Albert Edwards, chief global strategist, Societe Generale. "It helps explain why the Chinese data is derided by so many economic commentators