Press Release No. 04/111

Press Release: The Democratic Republic of Congo Formally Begins Participation in the IMF's General Data Dissemination System

June 9, 2004

The Democratic Republic of Congo has begun participating in the International Monetary Fund's General Data Dissemination System (GDDS), marking an important 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 on April 24, 2004.

Mrs. Carol S. Carson, Director of the IMF's Statistics Department, agreed that GDDS participation is a milestone. "I am pleased that the Democratic Republic of Congo has joined the 73 countries that have participated in the GDDS. The commitment being made to improve statistics is an important one."

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 the Democratic Republic of Congo'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 the Democratic Republic of Congo.