April 1, 2004
| Public Affairs | Media Relations | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| E-mail: | publicaffairs@imf.org | E-mail: | media@imf.org | |
| Fax: | 202-623-6278 | Phone: | 202-623-7100 | |
Kiribati has begun participating in the International Monetary Fund's General Data Dissemination System (GDDS), marking an important step forward in the development of the country's statistical systems. Comprehensive information on its statistical production and dissemination practices were published on the IMF's Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board on March 15, 2004.
Mrs. Carol S. Carson, Director of the IMF's Statistics Department, agreed that GDDS participation was a milestone. "I am pleased that Kiribati has joined the 70 countries that already participate in the GDDS. The commitment being made to improve statistics is an important one. Currently Kiribati has received technical assistance under the GDDS Project for Pacific Islands. The objective of the project is to assist countries to achieve a sustainable improvement in the capacity of statistical systems to enable the production and dissemination of reliable, timely, and relevant macroeconomic and socio-demographic statistics."
The GDDS, established by the IMF in 1997, provides a framework to assist Fund member countries to develop their statistical systems with the objective of producing comprehensive and accurate statistics for policy-making and analysis. It addresses the quality and the dissemination of data. In addition, the website shows Kiribati's plans for improvements in its statistics infrastructure and the related technical assistance needs. This information provides the international community with a useful framework to develop and coordinate their technical cooperation projects in Kiribati.
