FSB and IMF Publish 2020 Progress Report on G20 Data Gaps Initiative

IMF News, October 7, 2020

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Canonical URL: FSB and IMF Publish 2020 Progress Report on G20 Data Gaps Initiative

Press Release No. 20/306
Date: October 7, 2020
Issued by: IMF Communications Department
PRESS OFFICER: Pemba Sherpa
- Phone: +1 202 623-7100
- Email: MEDIA@IMF.org
- @IMFSpokesperson
Title of report published: Fifth Progress Report – Countdown to 2021 on the implementation of the second phase of the G20 Data Gaps Initiative (DGI-2).
The report will be submitted to the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors ahead of their meetings in Washington D.C. in mid-October.

The report provides an overview of progress since the previous report in September 2019 and sets out challenges and remaining steps to implement the DGI-2 recommendations in 2021.
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of accurate and timely data for policy decisions and increased policymakers’ needs for more granular, relevant, and reliable data.
Progress continued despite COVID-19, including:
- enhancements in compilation processes,
- data sharing arrangements,
- production and dissemination of additional tables,
- instrument and sector breakdowns.
Remaining improvement needs were identified for monitoring risks in the financial and non-financial sectors and analysing interconnectedness and cross-border spillovers.

The COVID-19 pandemic posed significant challenges to the 2020 DGI work program.
Participating economies agreed to extend DGI work by six months to December 2021.
The COVID-19 crisis increased policymakers’ needs to obtain more granular, relevant, and reliable data.

Many participating economies support maintaining an organized international collaboration process to continue addressing data needs beyond 2021.
A possible new mandate could help address emerging policy questions.
A general framework could be defined during 2021 and presented in the next DGI-2 progress report, which will be published in the second half of 2021 and delivered to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors.

Main objective: implement the regular collection and dissemination of reliable and timely statistics for policy use.
DGI-2 includes new recommendations to reflect evolving policymaker needs while maintaining continuity with DGI-1.
DGI-2 contains twenty recommendations clustered under three main headings:
- (i) monitoring risk in the financial sector;
- (ii) vulnerabilities, interconnections and spillovers; and
- (iii) data sharing and communication of official statistics.
DGI-2 sets more specific objectives for G20 economies to compile and disseminate minimum common datasets for these recommendations.

Source: FSB and IMF press release, October 7, 2020.