Press Release: Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Formally Begins Participation in the IMF's General Data Dissemination System

February 12, 2004


The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 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 system. Comprehensive information on its statistical production and dissemination practices were published on the IMF's Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB) on February 4, 2004.

Mrs. Carol S. Carson, Director of the IMF's Statistics Department, noted that FYR Macedonia has become the 69th GDDS participating country. "I am pleased to note that FYR Macedonia has joined the large number of countries already participating in the GDDS. The commitment being made to improve statistics is the cornerstone for developing sound data needed to monitor economic and social progress in the country." In this context, she encouraged FYR Macedonia to move toward the implementation of the recent Executive Board decision to include the Millenium Development Goal indicators (MDGs) in the framework of the GDDS.

The GDDS, established by the IMF in 1997, provides a framework to assist IMF 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 DSBB for FYR Macedonia shows the country's plans for improvements in its statistics infrastructure and related technical assistance needs. This information provides the international community with a useful framework to develop and coordinate their technical cooperation projects in FYR Macedonia.





IMF EXTERNAL RELATIONS DEPARTMENT

Public Affairs    Media Relations
E-mail: publicaffairs@imf.org E-mail: media@imf.org
Fax: 202-623-6278 Phone: 202-623-7100