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

October 3, 2006

Press Release No. 06/212

Belize began participating in the International Monetary Fund's General Data Dissemination System (GDDS) on September 27, 2006, marking a major step forward in the development of its statistical system. Comprehensive information on Belize's statistical production and dissemination practices now appears on the IMF's Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB) http://dsbb.imf.org/Applications/web/gdds/
gddscountrycategorylist/?strcode=BLZ
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Mr. Glenn Avilez, Chief Statistician at the Central Statistical Office and the GDDS Coordinator for Belize, stated: "The occasion of Belize's participation in the GDDS marks a significant accomplishment for the Central Statistical Office. The IMF's GDDS provides an excellent framework for a continued improvement of our national statistical system. We are committed to making continued progress in terms of the quality, timeliness, and coverage of our statistical system, including with technical assistance from various sources."

Mr. Robert Edwards, Director of the IMF Statistics Department (STA), welcomed Belize's GDDS participation and observed: "Belize's participation in the GDDS is a milestone in the country's statistical development. Participation in the GDDS should allow Belize to take full advantage of the framework to enhance its statistical capacity, especially for macroeconomic and socio-demographic statistics."

The GDDS was established by the IMF in 1997. It provides a framework to help countries to develop their statistical systems to produce comprehensive and accurate statistics for policymaking and analysis. Belize is the 92nd GDDS participant. Six GDDS participants have used the GDDS framework to graduate to the Special Data Dissemination Standard, a more demanding dissemination standard also established by the IMF.

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