Press Release No. 15/60

Press Release: France Adheres to the IMF’s Special Data Dissemination Standard Plus

February 18, 2015

France has completed the requirements for adherence to the International Monetary Fund’s Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) Plus—the highest tier of the Data Standards Initiatives. France’s SDDS Plus data are now posted on the Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB: SDDS Plus Adherents).

Insee, the French national statistical institute and Banque de France underline their enthusiasm to adhering to SDDS Plus, thus pro-actively contributing to the enhancement of statistics dissemination. This achievement results from a close and successful cooperation with the IMF. It contributes to the transparency of economic and important financial data that appears also necessary at the global level.

Louis Marc Ducharme, Director of the IMF’s Statistics Department, welcomed France’s adherence and noted that “the dissemination of the new data sets under the SDDS Plus will be invaluable in fostering a deeper understanding and assessment of the performance of France’s financial sector, the cross-border-financial linkages of France, and the vulnerabilities of the economy to shocks.”

The SDDS Plus builds on the SDDS and its purpose is to assist statistically advanced member countries with regard to the publication of comprehensive, timely, accessible, and reliable economic and financial data in an environment of continuing economic and financial integration.

The Data Standards Initiatives were established in the mid-1990s to enhance countries’ data transparency and to promote the development of sound statistical systems. The need for data standards was highlighted by the financial crises of the mid-1990s and again in the late-2000s, when information deficiencies were seen to play a role. The Data Standards Initiatives also include the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) and the General Data Dissemination System (GDDS).

Detailed information on the Data Standards Initiatives can be found on the Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board at www.dsbb.imf.org. For more information on SDDS Plus and its worldwide launch see also the IMF’s press release of November 18, 2014.