Press Release No. 03/146

Press Release: Lesotho Formally Begins Participation in the IMF's General Data Dissemination System

August 28, 2003

Lesotho has begun participating in the International Monetary Fund's General Data Dissemination System (GDDS), marking a major step forward in the development of the country's statistical systems. Comprehensive information on its statistical production and dissemination practices were published on the IMF's Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (http://dsbb.imf.org/Applications/web/sddshome/) on August 25, 2003.

"Lesotho had reached a milestone that should allow the country to take full advantage of the GDDS as a framework for the development of national systems for the production and dissemination of economic, financial, and socio-demographic data," Mrs. Carol Carson, Director of the Statistics Department, said.

The GDDS, established by the IMF in 1997, provides a framework to assist Fund member countries to develop their statistical systems with the objective of producing comprehensive and accurate statistics for policy-making and analysis. It addresses the quality and the dissemination of data. In addition, the website shows Lesotho's plans for improvements in its statistics infrastructure and the related technical assistance needs. This information provides the international community with a useful framework to develop and coordinate their technical cooperation projects in Lesotho.

At present, 60 countries are participating in the GDDS and have their data published on the bulletin board.