BEIJING - The credibility of China's national economic data will not be threatened by statistics calculated at regional level, an official said Thursday.

"The data quality has been improved, both at national and regional levels," said Ning Jizhe, head of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in response to data fabrication reported in Tianjin and some other regions.

China will punish local governments and enterprises for falsifying or withholding data through lawful means, Ning said.

In the current system, national GDP and regional data are calculated separately by the NBS and regional offices, which causes a discrepancy, Ning introduced.

A unified calculation system will be introduced to make sure that regional figures agree with national figures.