Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, who has criticized how his country gathers and interprets economic data, recently named Ning Jizhe head of the National Bureau of Statistics. This move comes as China's growth story faces mounting skepticism: GDP expanded 6.9 percent in 2015, the slowest pace in three decades, but some investors believe the real rate is lower. Previously deputy chief of the National Development and Reform Commission, economist Ning, 60, -advised Li from 2013 to 2015. His mission: Bring precision to data collection across China's 34 provinces, autonomous and special administrative regions, and self-administered municipalities. "I think he will make a difference," says Shen Jianguang, Mizuho Securities Asia's Hong Kong-based chief economist.
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