(Bloomberg) -- China delayed the publication of third-quarter gross domestic product data a day before the report was scheduled for release, a move which will add to investor uncertainty and which analysts attributed to the Communist party’s ongoing congress. 

China’s National Bureau of Statistics updated its release schedule on Monday, with the dates for major economic indicators due the next day marked as “delayed.” It didn’t give a reason for the change, and provided no information about a new publication date.

The data was scheduled to be released by the bureau in the middle of China’s Communist party congress, a twice a decade event which is expected to hand President Xi Jinping a third term as party chief.

Pulling the data release unexpectedly “isn’t a good look” as China’s quarterly statistics are closely watched by investors around the world, said Jeremy Stevens, chief China economist at Standard Bank Group Ltd. “But it doesn’t surprise me given the importance of the event that’s going on. People are working 24 hours a day on announcements coming out of the congress and that is where attention and capacity is focused,” he added.

The event has consumed the attention of China’s entire government, with thousands of top officials gathered in Beijing for event, and government staff at all levels required to halt their normal work to study Xi’s work report to the congress delivered on Sunday in detail. A social media post by China’s statistics bureau on Monday showed staff from across the country intently watching Xi’s speech “through various online and offline methods such as radio, television, Internet, and mobile phones.”

Indicators that were delayed include quarterly GDP as well as the monthly industrial output, energy production, fixed-asset investment, property investment and sales, retail sales and home prices. Official trade figures also weren’t released last week. The GDP data was expected by economists in a Bloomberg poll to show a rebound in China’s third-quarter GDP to 3.3% after near-zero growth in the April-June period.

That would still be a low growth rate for China, reflecting the impact on the economy from tight coronavirus controls and the country’s longest property slump in recent history. However, the delay is unlikely to reflect worries about weakness in the data, said Iris Pang, chief economist for Greater China at ING Groep NV. “I think it’s just that there’s been a lot of information and chaos for the market over the party congress already, and the government doesn’t want to further induce market volatility.”

Zhao Chenxin, a deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, the top economic-planning agency, said at a press briefing earlier Monday that the economy “rebounded significantly in the third quarter.” Economic indicators for the industrial and services sectors as well as data for investment and consumption continued to improve, he said.

“My guess is they want to avoid potential distractions from the Congress. I would say now is a more politically sensitive time, given the economy and the expected reappointment of Xi for a third term,” according to Duncan Wrigley, chief China economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics. 

China’s General Administration of Customs also didn’t publish monthly trade data that were scheduled for release on Oct. 14. The agency didn’t provide an reason.

The statistics bureau’s data release schedule for this year was drawn up well before the date for the party congress was finalized, but the lack of explanation for the delays could further worry markets. “This could cause some uncertainties and cautiousness among investors in the absence of explanation for such an unusual delay,” said Ken Cheung, chief Asia FX strategist at Mizuho Bank Ltd.

Postponement of economic data releases is extremely rare. During the previous party congress in 2017, the NBS published the GDP figures at a briefing as scheduled. “The delay could spur some concerns that the data could underperform but for now, I think markets are accustomed to the weak growth story,” said Jun Rong Yeap, market strategist at IG Asia Pte.

(Updates with analyst quotes)

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