Press Release No. 17/69

Paraguay to Implement IMF’s Enhanced General Data Dissemination System

March 2, 2017

At the request of the authorities a mission from the IMF’s Statistics Department led by Ms. Medina Cas visited Asunción during January 26 to February 2, 2017, to assist with the implementation of the Enhanced General Data Dissemination System (e-GDDS). The mission helped develop the National Summary Data Page (NSDP), utilizing the Open Data Platform installed with the support of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), to serve as a one-stop publication vehicle for essential macroeconomic data. This makes Paraguay one of the first countries in the Western Hemisphere to implement the recommendations of the e-GDDS. It is also the first time the IDB finances the software for the elaboration of the NSDP.

The NSDP is posted on the Central Bank of Paraguay’s website. A link to the Paraguay’s NSDP will be available on the IMF’s Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB) from March 2, 2017: at http://dsbb.imf.org.

Publication of essential macroeconomic data through the new NSDP will provide national policy makers and a broad range of national and international stakeholders, including investors and rating agencies, with easy access to information that the IMF’s Executive Board has identified as critical for monitoring economic conditions and policies. Making this information easily accessible in both human-readable and machine-readable formats will allow all users to have simultaneous access to timely data released on a disciplined dissemination schedule using an Advance Release Calendar, enhancing data transparency.

The authorities are very pleased that Paraguay has reached this important milestone in its quest for dissemination of quality statistics following international data standards.

Background

The e-GDDS was established by the IMF’s Executive Board in May 2015 to support improved data transparency, encourage statistical development, and help create synergies between data dissemination and surveillance. The e-GDDS superseded the GDDS, which had been established in 1997.

Watch this short video which gives a broad overview of the benefits of the eGDDS.