China says lower energy use signals economy changing, not slowing further

China is defending the quality of its economic data, arguing that figures showing declines in energy use mean the economy is changing, not contracting.

Data on China’s electricity consumption have long been used as a benchmark for industrial activity, given the often haphazard nature of other measures. But as the economy shifts toward services and less energy-intensive manufacturing, this practice may be misleading, the National Bureau of Statistics said in comments carried by state media Tuesday.
China’s power consumption in the first quarter of the year fell 4 percent from a year earlier to 781 billion kilowatt hours, while industrial output grew 5.1 percent. Overall, the economy expanded 6.1 percent.

A recent report by the International Energy Agency questioned the quality of Chinese data, noting that lower oil demand seemed to contradict the growth figures.

“That viewpoint is groundless,” the Statistics Bureau said in a question-and-answer commentary posted on its Web site. The IEA “mistakenly oversimplified the correlation between economic growth and energy use,” it said.

The debate over China’s data highlights the challenge of keeping tabs on the world’s third largest economy. China’s leaders say they are confident the country will meet its target for 8 percent growth this year, but signs of a clear rebound from last year’s sharp slowdown remain elusive.

Los Angeles Times