China to update national economy accounting system

China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) plans to revise the current system of measuring the national economy in line with latest international standards, an NBS official has revealed.

The new system will reckon spending on research and development as a form of fixed capital and calculate it into gross domestic product (GDP), reported Xinhua citing NBS vice head Xu Xianchun in an interview Monday.

Other changes include the method of setting value for self-owned housing of urban residents, to count the income made from transferring land-use rights into farmers' income, as well as to create an index for employee stock options as a form of labour wage.

The proposed revisions are in accordance with a 2008 version of the United Nations System of National Accounts. China's current national economy accounting system, completed in 2002, was based on the 1993 version.

Xu said the new system will be finalised around the end of 2014 at the earliest.