It is true that local governments are under heavy pressure to fire up their economic engines in areas under their jurisdiction now that the novel coronavirus pandemic has been brought under control in the country. But it is also true that they face a lot of challenges trying to get their local economies to pick up speed again.

President Xi Jinping has stressed on a number of occasions that work and production must return to normal despite the challenges caused by the ongoing domestic prevention and control measures and the pandemic situation abroad.

But given the problems — such as a lack of workers, impeded logistics, poor cash flows for small and medium-sized enterprises, a shortage of epidemic prevention materials, as well as the broken supply chains because of the spread of the virus around the world that have brought great uncertainty to China's resumption of work — some local leaders have been tempted to pad the data to give the impression that economic activities are getting back to normal when in fact they are not.

For instance, it has been reported that in some places several launch ceremonies have been held for a single economic project in order to present upbeat pictures of the local economies.

By employing such tricks to bloat the economic data, those local governments appear to have done a good job in resuming work and production in their jurisdiction, which has given credit to the performance of these local governments and leaders even though they have not created any real jobs or promoted economic recovery.

With the emphasis placed on the inflated figures, these local leaders want to please their immediate superiors so that the channels for their promotion will be lubricated. This is anything but good performance. It does a disservice to the healthy development of the national economy by preventing the higher authorities from getting a genuine picture of the economic situation.

To be exact, it is a kind of political corruption.

It will still take some time for local economies to return to full health, and adopting the right policies to help companies, especially micro, small and household businesses, overcome the difficulties they face will be a much needed tonic.

Real benefits must be delivered to these businesses to stabilize employment and the income of workers, including migrant workers.

Those local leaders who adopt down-to-earth measures to help enterprises with their difficulties in their resumption of work and know where to adjust policies in accordance with real problems should get the credit they deserve.

Those who try to pull the wool over the eyes of the central authorities should be punished. Only if an honest and upright governing style prevails will the economy get back on the right track.