Quarterly Update on the Special Data Dissemination Standard

Third Quarter 2006

December 5, 2006

Observance Status

As of the end of the third quarter of 2006, all 64 SDDS subscribers were in observance of the SDDS requirements for the coverage, periodicity, and timeliness of the data and for the dissemination of advance release calendars (ARCs) (Table 1). The IMF's Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB) disseminates a complete list of subscribers. Observance of SDDS metadata requirements improved with the increase in posted summary methodologies.

Table 1. SDDS Indicators
Indicators	As of September 30, 2005	As of June 30, 2006	As of September 30, 2006
Number of subscribers	61	64	64
Number of countries officially in observance¹	61	64	64
Number of summary methodologies posted²	1,168³	1,253	1,262
¹Observance of the requirements of the SDDS with respect to the coverage, periodicity, and timeliness of the data and the use of ARCs. 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 judgments. A subscriber experiencing difficulties in meeting SDDS requirements is not automatically in "nonobservance" of the SDDS. When deviations from SDDS requirements occur, the IMF staff tries to resolve the issue with the subscriber, and then, if necessary, through the Executive Director. If these efforts fail, the matter is brought to the attention of the subscriber's Governor for the Fund. A subscriber is officially declared in "nonobservance" only when a note to that effect is posted on the DSBB. ²Out of a required total of 1,360 summary methodologies (21 data categories per subscriber, plus 16 subscribers that are currently disseminating the encouraged forward-looking indicators). All subscribers are disseminating summary methodologies for most data categories. ³The required total summary methodologies in September 2005 was 1,297.

Monitoring Data Releases

The IMF monitors the data and access dimensions of the SDDS for each subscriber by comparing the first appearance of new information on the National Summary Data Page (NSDP) against the last release date announced in the ARC, which should meet the SDDS timeliness requirements. Table 2 contains results for the third quarter of 2006. Compared with the same quarter in 2005 and the second quarter of 2006, the timeliness of the third quarter of 2006 reporting improved for data that are disseminated on a quarterly basis, while data disseminated on a monthly and annual basis decreased due to delays in some data categories under the fiscal (central government operations and general government operations) and external sectors (official reserves, reserves template, merchandise trade, and international investment position).

Table 2. Monitoring of Data Releases 2005 Quarter 3–2006 Quarter 3¹
Data Categories	Q3/05	Q2/06	Q3/06
Monthly data	90.1	91.3	88.6
Production index	89.7	93.2	91.6
Consumer prices	92.7	94.6	92.6
Producer prices	93.7	92.8	92.9
Central government operations	82.1	85.0	80.8
Analytical accounts of banking sector	90.4	90.7	89.4
Analytical accounts of central bank	90.1	91.4	86.2
Official reserves	89.6	92.0	88.4
Reserves template	90.2	90.9	86.7
Merchandise trade	92.2	91.4	89.0
Quarterly data	89.7	89.6	90.9
National accounts	89.4	93.7	90.1
Employment	92.3	87.6	93.5
Unemployment	92.6	90.2	94.4
Wages and earnings	88.1	85.5	94.5
Central government debt	84.0	84.4	85.1
Balance of payments	92.6	92.7	92.6
External debt	89.3	92.9	86.2
Annual data	89.4	85.9	78.1
General government operations	86.5	80.4	75.7
International investment position	92.3	91.5	80.5
¹Percentage of data categories subscribers disseminated on their National Summary Data Pages (NSDP) in accordance with SDDS timeliness requirements (quarterly averages).

DQAF Conversion of Metadata

After the Sixth Review of the IMF's Data Standards Initiatives, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund agreed that IMF staff should undertake reformatting the SDDS and General Data Dissemination System (GDDS) metadata into the structure of the Data Quality Assessment Framework (DQAF). The staff began conversion of metadata on the DSBB to the DQAF format in March 2006 and expects to complete conversion for all SDDS subscribers during the first quarter of 2007. At this report, the staff had converted the metadata for forty-two countries, and DQAF metadata for twenty countries have been posted on the DSBB. These countries are: Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Posting the remaining 22 countries' DQAF metadata is pending their review and approval from the respective national authorities.

Recent and Upcoming SDDS Coordinators' Seminars

European Region. The IMF Statistics Department conducted a regional seminar on the IMF's Data Standards Initiatives in Frankfurt, Germany, during October 17–20, 2006. The seminar was hosted by the European Central Bank (ECB) and attended by 30 SDDS coordinators or their representatives from 28 countries in Europe and two country coordinators for the GDDS from the region. The seminar reviewed recent developments and future work programs of the SDDS. Four representatives from the ECB and one from Eurostat also participated.

The topics discussed at the seminar included: (1) electronic monitoring of countries' observance of the SDDS; (2) preparation of annual reports showing countries' observance of the SDDS; (3) the forthcoming 2006 SDDS Guide; (4) presentation of the SDDS/GDDS metadata in the DQAF; and (5) prospective new ways of reporting data on the NSDP using the Statistical Data and Metadata eXchange (SDMX) protocol (see http://www.sdmx.org).

Asia and Pacific Region. The next seminar on IMF Data Standards Initiatives will be conducted by the IMF Statistics Department and hosted by the Korea National Statistical Office in Daejeon, Korea, during December 11–15, 2006. The seminar will bring together national coordinators for the SDDS and the GDDS from Asia and the Pacific.

The seminar will cover substantive and operational enhancements of the SDDS and the GDDS, as endorsed by the IMF Executive Board at the Sixth Review of the IMF's Data Standards Initiatives.