China to update national economy accounting system

BEIJING - China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) plans to revise the current system of measuring the national economy in line with latest international standards, an NBS official said.

The new system will reckon spending on research and development as a form of fixed capital and calculate it into gross domestic product (GDP), NBS vice head Xu Xianchun said in an interview which was available at www.xinhuanet.com on Monday.

Other changes include the method of setting value for self-owned housing of urban residents, to count the income made from transferring land-use rights into farmers' income, as well as to create an index for employee stock options as a form of labor wage.

The proposed revisions are in accordance with a 2008 version of the United Nations System of National Accounts. China's current national economy accounting system, completed in 2002, was based on the 1993 version.

Xu said the new system will be finalized around the end of 2014 at the earliest.

Historical GDP data will be revised according to new standards and released after the ongoing third national economic census, Xu said.