In an unguarded moment in 2007, the man anointed to take over next year as the helmsman of the world’s second-largest economy revealed his doubts about China’s economic growth statistics.
The country’s official gross domestic product figures are “man-made” and therefore unreliable, Li Keqiang told the US ambassador at the time, adding with a smile that he regarded them as being “for reference only”.
When evaluating economic growth, Mr Li, who is expected formally to replace Wen Jiabao as China’s premier next March, said he focused instead on three sets of data – electricity consumption, rail cargo volumes and -disbursement of bank loans.