VietNamNet Bridge - Statistics agencies currently do not have the right to access businesses to seek accurate information but have to instead make calculations based on figures provided by businesses.

An expert from the Vietnam Statistics Association said there were two statistical systems and two kinds of statistics, including the ones state agencies show to experts and experienced researchers, and the ones they publicize.

“The latter kind is ‘flexible’, which can be adjusted and fabricated as per requests by VIPs,” he said. “The figure about GDP, for example, will be ‘made up’ if it is too low.”

The expert went on to say that people doubt the repeated big losses incurred by petroleum importers and the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN). However, statistics officers cannot access the businesses to collect information, but have to use figures in the businesses’ reports.

In 2012, the General Statistics Office (GSO) and local authorities surprised the public when they showed ‘strange’ figures. While local authorities all reported two-digit GDP growth rates, the country’s GDP growth rate calculated by GSO was 5 percent only. 

“The statistics fabrication shows the ‘achievement disease’,” he said. 

“You will be dislodged from your position as the leader in the locality, if the local economy, under your leadership, cannot obtain high achievements,” he explained, adding that GSO is well aware of the fabrication, but it cannot do anything to resolve the problem, because it is only an agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

The Ministry of Finance’s report that Vietnam’s public debts have reached 59.3 percent of GDP has also raised doubts. Experts believe that the real figure would be much higher if counting the debts incurred by state-owned enterprises, organizations and local authorities in accordance with the international practice.

Under the 2003 Statistical Law, the figures released by GSO are final, meaning that GSO’s figures are official. They are referred to by government and ministries when designing economic development strategies. 

However, GSO’s statistics can also be unreliable because they are based on unreliable figures provided by local authorities.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment warned that high ranking officials, who want to report high achievements, will put pressure on statisticians and force them to fabricate figures.

Therefore, the ministry, when drafting the amended Statistics Law. suggested that the new law needs to point out the responsibilities of the central statistics agency in examining statistics provided by local authorities, ministries and branches. 

If they refuse the examination, the agency will have the right to make  a final decision and be responsible before the Prime Minister.

Tien Phong