Zheng Yuesheng, spokesperson and Head of the Statistics Department of the General Administration of Customs in Beijing, issued a statement admitting giving 'incorrect' and 'groundless' investment data.
He expressed his 'deep apologies' for citing unconfirmed finance data from Internet sources- sources he did not identify. The information was given out during a customs administration press briefing held yesterday and as a whole he has acknowledged major issues as to the overstating of Chinese export data provided to the public.
In that said briefing, where the topic was China's first quarter trade data, Zheng said that the National Development and Reform Commission had approved 'seven trillion yuan of investment projects for the fourth quarter of 2012.' He added that the projects consist of new roads, railroads and airports. He gave the figures to highlight the improvement of the first quarter trade as an indication of the economic growth of China.
In a formal statement made on the website of the government agency, "The information was sourced from relevant reports on the Internet, which were groundless and must be corrected."
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