GDP calculation method to change in third quarter: report

There will be some changes in the way China calculates its GDP when announcing third-quarter economic data, the 21st Century Business Herald newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The new GDP data will include expenditure for research and development (R&D) and local GDP volume and growth rate will be adjusted accordingly, the report said.

"This is all set and will be implemented nationwide," a statistics official in an undisclosed province was quoted by the newspaper as saying. Local governments have been working around the clock to prepare for the adjustment, the newspaper said.

The inclusion of R&D expenditure is a major change from the current method, under which it is excluded from GDP calculation as an intermediate cost deduction, according to the report. R&D expenditure will be counted as part of fixed assets under the new method, it said.

The changes will be reflected in the third-quarter GDP data scheduled to be released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on October 19.

The new method will raise the overall GDP figure but the growth rate will not be changed "too greatly," Cai Zhizhou, an economics professor at Peking University, told the 21st Century Business Herald.

"For some developed regions, R&D expenditure is bigger and the added GDP will be greater," Cai said.

Luo Leqin, a statistics professor at Xiamen University, pointed out that the inclusion of R&D expenditure in GDP calculation is common in developed countries and China's decision to do the same will help with comparisons between the Chinese and other economies, the report said.

Some provinces such as East China's Jiangxi have already released GDP data that includes R&D expenditure, according to the report.