Chinese Electricity Conclusions Reexamined

By EconMatters China`s 4th Quarter China`s economy grew 7.9% for the fourth quarter of 2012, signaling to some that China might be rebounding from a two-year downtrend in economic growth. When it comes to Chinese data though, transparency issues always rear their ugly head.  As a result, many analysts look to Electricity usage to confirm the economic numbers. Many times the electricity numbers are at odds with the stronger economic numbers coming out of China, and analysts believe that during this downturn, the actual growth numbers were much lower than those published officially. They pointed to lower electricity numbers that have dropped off substantially more than the economic drop-off on a percentage basis. The conclusion is that China is inflating the real growth numbers to paint a more flattering picture of their economy. Is this the right Conclusion? When the latest...