Quarterly Update on the Special Data Dissemination Standard

Fourth Quarter 2006

March 22, 2007

Observance Status

As of the end of the fourth 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. SDDSIndicators
Indicators	As of December 31, 2005	As of September 30, 2006	As of December 31, 2006
Number of subscribers	62	64	64
Number of countries officially in observance¹	62	64	64
Number ofsummary methodologies posted²	1,194	1,262	1,275
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. ²The required total summary methodologies in December 2005 was 1,194. For December 2006, the required total was 1,275 out 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.

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 fourth quarter of 2006. Compared with the same quarter in 2005, the timeliness of the fourth quarter of 2006 reporting improved for all data (monthly, quarterly, and annual). Compared with the third quarter of 2006, the timeliness of the fourth quarter of 2006 reporting improved for data that are disseminated on a monthly and annual basis, while data disseminated on a quarterly basis decreased slightly due to delays in the balance of payments data category.

Table 2. Monitoring of Data Releases 2005 Quarter 4–2006 Quarter 4¹
Data Categories	Q4/05	Q3/06 Revised	Q4/06
Monthly data	89.8	88.5	90.0
Production index	89.7	92.2	91.1
Consumer prices	95.0	92.1	92.6
Producer prices	92.0	94.0	91.8
Central government operations	81.0	81.4	84.4
Analytical accounts of banking sector	88.7	90.5	90.3
Analytical accounts of central bank	89.0	86.2	89.8
Official reserves	90.2	86.8	89.4
Reserves template	86.8	84.1	91.5
Merchandise trade	96.1	89.5	89.0
Quarterly data	89.8	91.5	90.9
National accounts	93.7	92.0	91.0
Employment	90.6	93.9	92.4
Unemployment	93.5	94.6	92.7
Wages and earnings	86.8	95.0	91.4
Central government debt	83.2	84.3	92.1
Balance of payments	90.2	94.2	88.7
External debt	90.8	86.6	87.7
Annual data	79.9	80.5	83.4
General government operations	72.7	79.5	81.1
International investment position	87.1	81.4	85.7
¹For each data category, the table shows the percent of subscribers that 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 second quarter of 2007. At this report, the staff had converted the metadata for 46 countries, and DQAF metadata for 35 countries have been posted on the DSBB. These countries are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Tunisia, and the United Kingdom. For 11 countries, DQAF metadata are currently pending review and approval from the respective national authorities.

Recent SDDS Coordinators' Seminars

Asia and Pacific Region. The IMF Statistics Department conducted a regional seminar on the IMF's Data Standards Initiatives in Daejeon, Korea, during December 11–15, 2006. The seminar was hosted by the Korea National Statistical Office. It brought together 45 officials from 25 countries in the Asia and Pacific region, including SDDS and GDDS coordinators. This was the second of a new series of regional seminars to advance the Fund's data standards initiatives. The first was held at the European Central Bank in October 2006 for countries in Europe.

The topics discussed at the seminar included: (1) the forthcoming SDDS Guide, (2) electronic monitoring of countries' observance of the SDDS, (3) preparation of annual reports showing countries' observance of the SDDS, (4) presentation of metadata in the DQAF, (5) prospective new ways of reporting data on the NSDP using the Statistical Data and Metadata exchange (SDMX) protocol (see http://www.sdmx.org), and (6) steps GDDS countries need to take to become SDDS subscribers. There were also discussions addressing key dissemination standards issues common to countries in the region.