The latest regulations on penalties for fabricating statistics can be deemed as another threatening roll of thunder. Whether it will be followed by a downpour to wash away the unbecoming practice remains to be seen.

Jointly released by the Ministry of Supervision, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and National Bureau of Statistics (NPS), the regulations stipulate that those who deliberately cook up figures in statistical reports will be fired, and possibly be sued if their offence is serious enough to constitute a crime.

Following the widespread public skepticism about the inflated average salary of urban workers released by NPS early this month, this move may be considered as an effort to make up for the reputation of NPS. But we would rather believe that they are meant to crack down on rampant cheating in statistics by some local governments.