TOKYO, Reuters – For years the Japanese government may have exaggerated construction orders data from the sector, possibly leading to an increase in the country’s economic growth, Asahi reported Wednesday.

Multiple sources from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism were cited in the newspaper. They claimed that the ministry was “rewriting” monthly data collected by about 12,000 companies every month since 2013, at an average of 10,000 entries each year.

On Wednesday, Tetsuo Saido, the Land Minister, confirmed that construction order data had been misstated. He called it “extremely unfortunate” and promised it wouldn’t be repeated.

The Asahi stated that it wasn’t clear why the government had started rewriting at this time. He cited an official with the ministry’s survey department.

According to the paper, the survey collects data on public and private orders for construction. They totaled approximately 80 trillion yen (700 billion dollars) in 2020. It is then used to calculate gross domestic products (GDP).

However, the report didn’t say whether or how much it had affected GDP figures.

The ministry gathers data monthly from local prefecture officials to conduct the survey.

Asahi stated that companies who were behind in their orders would send several months worth of data at once to the ministry. These cases would lead to the Asahi instructing local authorities that they rewrite orders for combined months using the most recent month.

Asahi stated that the Asahi continued to rewrite the data until March.

($1 = 113.7100 yen)