TOKYO (Reuters) – The Japanese government overstated construction orders data received from the industry for years, which may have had the effect of inflating the country’s economic growth figures, the Asahi newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Citing multiple sources at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the paper said the ministry had been “rewriting” data received monthly from about 12,000 select companies since 2013 at a pace of about 10,000 entries per year.
In a parliamentary session on Wednesday, Land Minister Tetsuo Saito confirmed the misstating of construction orders data, calling it “extremely regrettable” and vowed it would not be repeated.
It was not clear why the government started the practice of rewriting at that time, the Asahi said, citing an official at the ministry’s survey department.
The survey compiles public and private construction orders which in the 2020 fiscal year totalled roughly 80 trillion yen ($700 billion), and is used to calculate gross domestic product (GDP), according to the paper.
The report did not say if or by how much GDP figures had been affected.
For the survey, the ministry collects monthly orders data from construction companies through local prefecture authorities.
Companies that were late in submitting orders data would often send in several months’ worth of figures at once at a later date, the Asahi said. In these instances, the ministry would instruct local authorities to rewrite the orders for the combined months as the figure for the latest, single month.
The rewriting of the data, which may be in breach of law, continued until this March, the Asahi said.
($1 = 113.7100 yen)
(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Sam Holmes)
