diff --git a/src/modules/_Stdio/stat.c b/src/modules/_Stdio/stat.c
index 1eec2d937510e0dfbf53aa9e1c8571460ddba582..fd51ef21c9002a3768e47280863e1e1fe5735332 100644
--- a/src/modules/_Stdio/stat.c
+++ b/src/modules/_Stdio/stat.c
@@ -985,7 +985,6 @@ void init_stdio_stat()
      stat_index_strs[__indices[n].id]=s;
      sp[-1].u.integer = __indices[n].id;
      mapping_string_insert( stat_map, s, sp-1);
-     s->refs++;
    }
    sp--;
    dmalloc_touch_svalue(sp);