News Brief: Countries Publish More Detailed International Reserves Data on Internet

June 29, 2000


As of June 29, 2000, 41 of the 47 subscribers to the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) are publishing data on international reserves and foreign currency liquidity according to an internationally agreed template. The information, which is available on the web sites of the countries' central banks or finance ministries, provides comprehensive and timely data on these subscribers' international reserves and related obligations. In addition, one country that does not subscribe to the SDDS also publishes data according to the template.

The list of web sites is attached. These sites are hyperlinked to the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB), which is accessible to the public on the IMF's external web site at http://dsbb.imf.org.

The template on international reserves and foreign currency liquidity was developed jointly by the IMF and a working group of the Committee on the Global Financial System of the Group of Ten central banks. The template provides for improved disclosure of countries' data on international reserves and related items.

The template calls for data that cover both the monetary authorities and central government. It provides for data on the authorities' liquid foreign currency resources (encompassing official reserve assets and other foreign currency assets); their short-term foreign currency obligations (including those arising from foreign currency liabilities, financial derivative positions, and other obligations and commitments); and their short-term contingent foreign currency liabilities. Detailed supplementary information appears in most subscribers' templates under the rubric of memorandum items. The subscribers disseminate their template data at least once a month, with a lag of no more than one month.

The IMF Executive Board decided in March 1999 to make this template part of the SDDS, with a transition period to run through March 31, 2000 (see Public Information Notice No. 99/25 March 26, 1999). The SDDS, established by the IMF in 1996, specifies good practices in the dissemination of economic and financial data. Countries subscribe to the SDDS on a voluntary basis.

Web sites on which SDDS subscribers disseminate template data on international reserves and foreign currency liquidity:

    Note: New Zealand is not an SDDS subscriber. Nonetheless, it has disseminated the template data on its central bank's Web site at www.rbnz.govt.nz



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