China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said that it will publish quarter-on-quarter GDP growth results starting in April, a common practice in developed countries, to better reflect economic changes.

The NBS will also release the month-on-month growth of industrial value-added, fixed-asset investment and retail sales.

China formerly published the macro-economic data on a yearly basis. The new move is a part of the statistical reform initiated in 2009.

"The new mechanism may more accurately reflect short-term economic changes to provide better information for macro-economic policy-making," said Peng Zhilong, director of the Department of National Accounts of NBS.

He noted that a major challenge for the new mechanism is factoring in holidays which could distort the information.

The data will undergo several revisions after it is first published, which is a technical must, said Sheng Laiyun, director of the Department of Comprehensive Statistics of NBS.

The statistical changes under the new scheme are expected to be bigger than those based on the year-on-year number, which could be reflected in United States's 2010 GDP data. The annualized data from the first quarter through the fourth quarter were 2.4 percent, 3.0 percent, 3.2 percent and 2.7 percent. The quarterly-based numbers were 3.7 percent, 1.7 percent, 2.6 percent and 2.8 percent.

NBS is scheduled to announce major economic data for April on April 15. It currently only publishes month-on-month data of consumer and producer prices. The General Administration of Customs releases seasonally-adjusted month-on-month trade figures.

NBS has come under increased criticism in recent years for its outdated statistical methods, most notably in calculating property prices as skyrocketing housing costs have become a major source of public complaint.

The statistical agency scrapped the national property price index in February, as it failed to reflect sharp price gaps among different localities and could lead to misunderstandings.

Also in February, NBS adjusted the composition of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket by reducing the weighing of food prices and increasing that of living costs.