Press Release No. 08/188

Press Release: United Arab Emirates Begins Participation in the IMF's General Data Dissemination System

July 31, 2008

The United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) began participating in the International Monetary Fund's (IMF's) General Data Dissemination System (GDDS) on July 31, 2008, marking a major step forward in the development of its statistical system. Comprehensive information on the U.A.E.'s statistical production and dissemination practices now appears on the IMF's Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (http://dsbb.imf.org/Applications/web/gdds/gddscountrylist/).

H.E. Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri, the Minister of Economy of the U.A.E., stated: "In June 2008, the U.A.E. Cabinet of Ministers approved the U.A.E.'s participation in the GDDS for developing the country's statistical system. In this context, I am very pleased that the U.A.E. has begun to participate in the GDDS. The U.A.E. is committed to building a national statistical system consistent with best international practices, and the IMF's GDDS provides an excellent framework for the development of statistical systems. The GDDS addresses the full range of issues critical for compiling and disseminating statistics and makes explicit plans for developments to align national procedures with best international practices. I am confident that the U.A.E.'s participation in the GDDS will ultimately lead to the production and dissemination of more reliable and timely statistics needed for economic policymaking and monitoring developments."

Mr. William E. Alexander, Acting Director of the IMF Statistics Department, welcomed the U.A.E.'s GDDS participation and observed: "The U.A.E.'s participation in the GDDS is a major milestone in the country's statistical development. I am confident that the U.A.E. will benefit from using the GDDS as a framework for further development of its statistical system. The U.A.E. is the fifth Gulf Cooperation Council country to participate in the GDDS."

The GDDS was established by the IMF in 1997. It provides a framework to help countries to develop their statistical systems to produce comprehensive and accurate statistics for policymaking and analysis. The U.A.E. is also the 93^rd GDDS participant.