The government is taking steps to make its CPI calculating procedures more transparent. The National Bureau of Statistics invited journalists to see how its done.
Zhao Lijun is a data collector at the Statistics Bureau.
Every Friday and Sunday morning at 8, she's on the job, tracking over 700 commodities in the market place.
Zhao Lijun, NBS Data Collector said "Usually I confirm the price with 3 buyers, in order to make sure the price is real."
To ensure the accuracy of the data, the Statistics Bureau sends out inspectors to do spot-checks to compare with the recorded price.
An Yinghong, Deputy Director of Xuanwu Economic & Social Survey Team said "If the figures don't match, we will investigate the collector. We usually won't use them again."
The figures are entered into the survey system, and submitted level-by-level up to National Bureau of Statistics. The bureau will process nearly 800 megabytes of data from the 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions.
Liu Jianwei, Official of National Bureau of Statistics said "After processing these figures, our staff will continue to audit the result, and do some random sample checks, before the final result comes out."
The final CPI figure is based on figures from 50,000 survey stations across the country. Bureau officials say they'll add 10,000 locations for greater accuracy.
(CCTV June 11, 2009)
