Press Release No. 05/43

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

February 25, 2005

Nicaragua 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 system. Comprehensive information on its statistical production and dissemination practices was published on the IMF's Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB) (http://dsbb.imf.org/Applications/web/gdds/gddshome/) starting on February 22, 2004.

Mr. Mario Alonso Icabalceta, President of the Central Bank of Nicaragua, stated: "In cooperation with the Ministry of Public Finance and the National Statistics and Census Institute, efforts are being made to develop and improve economic and financial statistics by improving intersectoral consistency, expanding coverage, and adopting the international standards and recommendations of sectoral manuals. To reinforce this commitment, the Nicaraguan authorities believe it desirable to participate in the General Data Dissemination System as a prior step in the process of subscribing to the Special Data Dissemination Standard. This decision would provide economic agents with more reliable and timely statistics, which are necessary for appropriate decision-making."

At present, 83 countries have participated in the GDDS and 79 have their data published on the IMF's GDDS bulletin board. Mr. Rob Edwards, Director of the IMF's Statistics Department, noted: "Nicaragua's participation in the General Data Dissemination System is a major accomplishment and will allow the country to take full advantage of this framework for developing its economic, financial, and socio-demographic data."

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 IMF's web site shows Nicaragua's plans for improvement in its statistics and the related technical assistance needs. This information provides the international community with a useful framework to develop and coordinate technical cooperation projects in Nicaragua.