Tag: Tweaking

A group of more than 100 experts have sounded a pre-election alarm over Indian economic data, accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government of tweaking or burying unwelcoming numbers. His successor, a Modi ally, oversaw an economy-boosting cut in interest rates last month in his first monetary policy meeting. The 108 economists and social scientists said in an open letter on Friday that Indian statistics were "under a cloud for being influenced and indeed even controlled by political considerations". "How much more can this govt. embarrass us on a global level?," the party said on its official Twitter account. Economists in fellow emerging Asian giant China and abroad have long suspected that data there is also massaged, often noting that full-year gross domestic product hits Beijing's pre-set targets with suspicious regularity. The letter also questioned a revised growth rate of 8.2 percent in 2016-17, "the highest in a decade", that "seems to be at variance with the evidence marshalled by many economists". The letter also noted that a major and overdue survey on employment has still not been released. "The government's interference has created a huge problem." The government was yet to comment on the letter.