The overestimation of local GDP figures in some provinces may have resulted in the 1.4 trillion yuan ($204 billion) difference between the combination of local figures and the number from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in the first half of the year, statistics official said.

"GDP growth has become a very important tool to evaluate the work performance of local officials in China recently, so some may inflate the number in order to get through the assessment or beautify their work report," said Peng Zhilong, director of national economy assessment department at the NBS, in an article in People's Daily Wednesday.

The figure from the bureau shows that the national GDP was about 14 trillion yuan in the first half of the year. However, adding up local figures from each province shows the combined GDP to be about 15.4 trillion.

Applying the output of large multi-region enterprises towards the GDP of more than one province, and the different assessment standards used by the NBS and local bureaus are two other major reasons for the big difference in figures, Peng said.

"In China, the provinces are ranked by their GDP and any change to that ranking can be very sensitive to local officials," he said."It is possible that a few provinces overstate their economic situation."

(China Daily August 13, 2009)