Press Release No. 15/61

Press Release: Special Data Dissemination Standard Plus Now Online

February 18, 2015

The Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) Plus, the third and highest tier of the Fund’s Data Standards Initiatives is now online (at SDDS Plus country data) with data from an initial cluster of eight adherents including France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United States.

IMF Deputy Managing Director Min Zhu congratulated the authorities of these countries noting that the SDDS Plus “is an important contribution to addressing data gaps and data deficiencies that hampered surveillance of member countries’ economies during the recent global financial crisis.” He added that “discipline in the timely and regular reporting of several new and internationally-comparable datasets will help support more informed policy analysis and decision making around the world.”

The Data Standards Initiatives were established in the mid-1990 to enhance member 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