BEIJING, April 15 (Reuters) - China lashed out on Friday against leaks of its economic data after a slew of indicators were divulged to investors this week before their official releases.
The pledge came a day after the website of Hong Kong's Phoenix Television reported China's consumer price inflation, producer price inflation, manufacturing, retail sales, bank lending and money growth data for March, a full day before they were officially released.
The figures, which were attributed to an unnamed source, are closely watched by investors and were almost perfectly In line with official numbers announced on Friday.
"We seriously condemn any leak of data that are still confidential. We believe these illegal acts will eventually be punished by law," Sheng Laiyun, spokesperson for China's National Bureau of Statistics, told reporters on Friday.
Economic data is usually market-sensitive information, so most developed markets do not tolerate any leaks as it fosters insider trading.
Sheng said one way to stamp out such leaks was to shorten the time between the collection and the release of the data.
Under Chinese law, citizens and companies are required to protect "state secrets", a loosely defined category of information, and breaches are deemed a crime.
China's economic data is routinely leaked to the public before they are officially released, sometimes circulating among investors days before they are announced by the government.
For instance, rumours that March inflation had hit 5.4 percent were making their rounds in financial markets days before they were reported by the Phoenix website.
With China's growing economic influence, such leaks pose a bigger problem for authorities as they magnify the gains -- or losses -- to be had by investors. (Reporting by Langi Chiang and Koh Gui Qing; Editing by Ken Wills)