Press Release: Inter-Agency Task Force Releases Online Public Sector Debt Statistics Guide
IMF News, May 27, 2011
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- Press Release: Inter-Agency Task Force Releases Online Public Sector Debt Statistics Guide
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Bibliographic details
- Published: May 27, 2011
Overview
- Publication date: May 27, 2011
- Issuer: IMF EXTERNAL RELATIONS DEPARTMENT, Public Affairs, Media Relations
- Contact:
- E-mail: publicaffairs@imf.org; media@imf.org
- Fax: 202-623-6220
- Phone: 202-623-7100
- Press Release number: Press Release No. 11/201
Purpose and rationale
- The Inter-Agency Task Force on Finance Statistics (TFFS) has released an online, pre-publication version of the Public Sector Debt Statistics—Guide for Compilers and Users to:
- help standardize classification of public sector debt liabilities;
- achieve more internationally comparable public sector debt data.
- The Guide complements the World Bank-International Monetary Fund (IMF) Public Sector Debt Statistics Database, which offers free access to public sector debt statistics for 35 countries (see Press Release No. 10/473).
- Context: Increased focus on general government and public sector debt sustainability and fiscal consolidation globally has heightened interest in public sector debt statistics.
Core features and content of the Guide
- Provides a comprehensive conceptual framework for the measurement of gross and net debt of the public sector and all its components.1
- Guidance applicable across different components of the public sector and across various liabilities that constitute public sector debt.
- Structure for classifying debt liabilities:
- by instrument;
- by sector of the counterpart to the debt instrument.
- Practical guidance:
- advice on practical problems in recording public sector debt, including numerical examples;
- addresses identifying holders of traded debt securities;
- discusses approaches to consolidation of public sector debt statistics.
- Proposes a core set of tables based on international best practice to present debt statistics for any part of the public sector in a transparent and comprehensive manner.
- Includes an overview of main considerations in data collection, compilation, and dissemination of debt statistics for the public sector and its component institutions, which include central, state, and local governments as well as public financial and nonfinancial corporations (as illustrated in Figure 1 in the Guide).
- Offers an overview of tools used in the analysis of public sector debt statistics and outlines activities of international agencies in the field of general government and public sector debt statistics.
Availability and publication status
- The Guide is available online here: http://www.tffs.org/PSDStoc.htm
- Publication status: pre-publication draft; the final hardcopy version is expected to be published toward the end of 2011.
- Footnote: 1 This pre-publication draft is subject only to final editing for publication in book form.
Production and contributors
- Preparation primarily undertaken by the Government Finance Statistics Division of the IMF’s Statistics Department.
- Production was a joint undertaking by international agencies participating in the TFFS, in consultation with national compilers of public sector debt and government finance statistics.
- TFFS context and participants:
- The TFFS is one of the interagency task forces formed under the aegis of the United Nations Statistical Commission and the Administrative Committee on Coordination Sub-Committee on Statistical Activities.
- The TFFS is chaired by the IMF.
- Agencies involved in the Guide included representatives from: the Bank for International Settlements, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the European Central Bank, the Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat), the IMF, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Paris Club Secretariat, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the World Bank.
- The Guide was completed after a consultation process, with suggestions provided by member countries.
Quote
- “We hope that this Guide will contribute to more accurate and more internationally comparable general government and, more broadly, public sector debt statistics and an improved understanding of the complex issues involved,” said Ms. Adelheid Burgi-Schmelz, Director of the IMF’s Statistics Department.
Source: Press Release: Inter-Agency Task Force Releases Online Public Sector Debt Statistics Guide, May 27, 2011.