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Quarterly Update on the Special Data Dissemination Standard Third Quarter 2000

October 20, 2000

This is the second in the series of quarterly reports on progress being achieved in the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS). For background information, see (PIN/00/31). Overall, during the third quarter of 2000 there was steady progress by subscribers in meeting the requirements of the SDDS. Also, staff monitoring of observance began in the third quarter.


Observance

On the basis of metadata provided by national authorities and reviewed by the IMF staff, 33 of the 47 subscribers met the SDDS specifications for the coverage, periodicity and timeliness of the data and for the dissemination of advance release calendars, compared with 27 subscribers at the end of the second quarter (see details in Table 1). A complete list of subscribers indicating those in observance may be accessed on the Fund's Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB) at http://dsbb.imf.org/Applications/web/sddscountrylist/.

Table 1: SDDS Indicators
Indicator As stated at Third Review
March 29, 2000
As of
June 30, 2000
As of
Sept. 30, 2000
Number of subscribers   47   47   47
Subscribers in observance1   13   27   33
Countries working with IMF Staff for possible subscription     7     8     8
Subscribers with NSDP web sites   42   43   47
Hyperlinks from the DSBB to the NSDP   19   30   36
Subscribers with summary methodologies posted   38   41   41
Number of summary methodologies posted 167 280 338
Subscribers disclosing data based on the reserves template     7   42   42
1Observance of the externally monitorable elements of the SDDS, i.e., the coverage, periodicity, and timeliness of the data and the use of advance release calendars. Other elements of the SDDS dealing with the integrity and quality of the data are on a self-disclosure basis, with subscribers providing information on which users can make their own judgements.

Observance Monitoring

The staff began monitoring observance of the data dimension and of the advance release calendars for all subscribers on July 1. The absence of National Summary Data Pages (NSDPs) for some subscribers has made monitoring difficult and time-consuming because several websites must be searched for these subscribers. Also, in some cases information on some data categories was not available. As subscribers complete work on their NSDPs and hyperlinks from the DSBB to these sites are established, monitoring will become more comprehensive and effective. In the list of subscribers at http://dsbb.imf.org/Applications/web/sddscountrylist/, subscribers shown in italics have NSDPs to which the DSBB is hyperlinked.

There was some progress over the quarter in meeting the timeliness requirements for the dissemination of monthly data (Table 2). Nevertheless, some subscribers did not meet the timeliness requirements for some data categories. Over the quarter, the most dramatic increase in the number of subscribers meeting the timeliness requirement occurred for the analytical accounts of the banking sector and the central bank and for the industrial production index. Although all data categories were monitored over the quarter, the dissemination of lower-frequency data (quarterly and annual) will need to be monitored over a longer time period before an assessment of observance can be made.

Table 2. Monitoring of Observance of the SDDS, July-September 2000
Number of Subscribers Disseminating Monthly Data on Time
Data Categories July August September
Production index 22 28 32
Consumer prices 34 36 30
Producer prices 30 30 32
Central government operations 19 22 22
Analytical accounts of the banking sector 21 34 32
Analytical accounts of the central Bank 22 23 30
Official reserves 28 29 36
Reserves template 30 36 36
Merchandise trade 28 34 28

Since the start of monitoring, Fund staff have identified and raised a number of observance issues with subscribers; these issues either have been resolved, or are being addressed in dialogue between the Fund and country coordinators. Notwithstanding these and other efforts to facilitate subscribers' observance, in the near future, the staff will be bringing individual subscriber's records on observance of the SDDS for information and/or action of the IMF Executive Board.

National Summary Data Pages and Hyperlinks

During the third quarter, hyperlinks from the DSBB to NSDPs were opened for an additional six subscribers, bringing the total to 36 (see Table 1 above).

During the third quarter, an additional 58 summary methodology statements were posted on the DSBB, bringing the total number to 338 for 41 subscribers. These statements provide detailed information on the sources and methods used to compile the SDDS data categories and are a popular feature of the DSBB (see below). A complete listing of the countries and data categories for which summary methodology statements have been posted can be accessed at http://dsbb.imf.org/summeth.htm, and /or http://dsbb.imf.org/sumdata.html.

As a result of technical problems that slowed navigation on the DSBB during the first half of September, usage declined marginally in the third quarter to a monthly average of 560,000 hits compared with 630,000 in the second quarter. The technical problems stemmed from the introduction of new security measures to protect the website and were resolved by the middle of September. However, total number of hits for the period July-September 2000 exceeded 1.6 million; this represents almost a four-fold increase over the corresponding period in 1999 (see Fig.1). In the third quarter, the number of hits on summary methodology statements accounted for about a fourth of total hits, similar to the outcome in the previous quarter.

Figure
1

SDDS Regional Seminars

Three SDDS regional seminars will be conducted by the IMF Statistics Department during the fourth quarter of 2000 in Germany, Singapore, and Chile for country coordinators representing both subscribers and potential subscribers. Participants from 29 countries are scheduled to attend the first seminar, hosted by the European Central Bank (ECB), in Frankfurt during November 14-15. The second seminar at the IMF-Singapore Regional Training Institute during November 20-21 will attract participants from 7 countries, while participants from 11 countries are scheduled to attend the third seminar, hosted by the Central Bank of Chile, in Santiago during December 13-14. Also, regional organizations are invited to send representatives to these seminars.

The two-day seminars aim to stimulate discussion and the exchange of ideas on a range of topics including country experiences in implementing the SDDS, information technology issues that impact the DSBB, and the role of the DSBB in fostering data quality and metadata sharing among international and regional organizations.

Reserves template and external debt data categories

As of September 30, 42 of 47 SDDS subscribers have begun disseminating the data template on international reserves and foreign currency liquidity approved by the Executive Board in March 1999. All of these subscribers have chosen the Internet as the medium of dissemination and their websites are accessible at http://dsbb.imf.org/Applications/web/reservestemplate/

On October 13, 2000 the Fund opened a publicly available website containing template data on international reserves and foreign currency liquidity that have been submitted by both SDDS subscribers and non-subscribers on a voluntary basis. Through this website the Fund re-disseminates the template data in a common format and a common currency (the U.S. dollar) to facilitate both users' access to the data and comparability of the data across countries. The re-dissemination of the template data by the Fund does not constitute endorsement of the quality of the data by the Fund.

At the Third Review of the Fund's Data Standard Initiatives, the Executive Board specified the requirements for a new external debt data category in both the SDDS and the GDDS, with a transition period until March 31, 2003 for meeting the SDDS requirements. The Fund-chaired Inter-agency Task Force on Finance Statistics has been preparing External Debt Statistics: Guide for Compilers and Users. The Guide provides international methodological standards for the measurement of external debt, along with guidance on the analytical use of debt data and on the sources and methods for the compilation of such data, in order to help compilers develop data to meet the SDDS requirements.

A seminar to introduce the draft Guide to countries in the European region was organized by the Statistics Department at the Joint Vienna Institute over the period August 28-September 1, 2000. The objectives of the seminar were to make compilers aware of the new SDDS and GDDS requirements/recommendations for external debt and the institutional and other issues that need to be addressed. The next seminar is planned for Central America in the first quarter of 2001.