Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board |
Quarterly Update on the Special Data Dissemination
Standard—Second Quarter 2002
September 10, 2002 Observance Status At the end of the second quarter, 49 of 50 subscribers met the SDDS requirements for the coverage, periodicity, and timeliness of the data and for the dissemination of advance release calendars (Table 1).1 (A complete list of subscribers may be accessed on the IMF's DSBB at http://dsbb.imf.org/Applications/web/sddscountrylist/.) One SDDS subscriber--Iceland--was not in observance. Information on the status of this subscriber has been posted on the DSBB (see the What's New page). All 50 SDDS subscribers disclose data on international reserves and foreign currency liquidity in accordance with the reserves template.
|
Monitoring Monitoring of the data (i.e., coverage, periodicity and timeliness) and access dimensions of the SDDS is carried out against the release dates stated in subscribers' advance release calendars and metadata posted on the DSBB.2 In the second quarter, there was a notable improvement in the timeliness of releases for monthly and quarterly data categories compared with the same quarter of 2001 (Table 2).
Compared with the previous quarter, a marginal improvement in timeliness was recorded for most data categories; however, slippages in the timely dissemination of data on central government operations continued, although the number of affected subscribers declined. These slippages resulted from a number of factors, including changes in accounting systems. For data on general government operations (GGO), the SDDS prescribes annual periodicity, but a number of subscribers disseminate GGO data with greater frequency. For the year ending June 30, 2002, the timeliness of releases recorded an average of 91 percent. DSBB Usage An analysis of DSBB usage statistics for the second quarter showing, inter alia, the 10 most frequently accessed countries' metadata are presented in Table 3. The table shows that several emerging market economies are among the most frequently accessed countries on the DSBB.
International Investment Position (IIP) and External Debt Statistics Following the end of the transition period for International Investment Position (IIP) in December 2001, Fund staff has been working with SDDS subscribers to ensure that the IIP data and metadata are disseminated according to the requirements of the Standard. As of the end of August, 2002, 37 subscribers disseminated IIP data that meets SDDS requirements; of the remaining 13 subscribers:
For SDDS subscribers, the transition period for meeting the requirements of the external debt data category ends in March 2003. A new series of regional training seminars on external debt statistics started in the fiscal year 2003. During May 6-17, 2002, the IMF, in collaboration with other agencies participating in the Inter Agency Task Force on Finance Statistics (TFFS), conducted a two-week seminar on external debt statistics at the Joint Vienna Institute in English with simultaneous interpretation into Russian. The audience included 31 external debt compilers from 21 countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. A similar seminar will be conducted in French at the Joint Africa Institute during October 28-November 8, 2002, and two additional seminars are intended to be held during fiscal year 2004. While previous seminars on external debt statistics were aimed at managers and senior compilers, these seminars are aimed at mid-level external debt compilers and cover more comprehensively the methodology and practice of compiling external debt statistics. The main text for these seminars is The External Debt Statistics: Guide for Compilers and Users (Guide)--available in English on the Fund's website at htpp://www.imf.org/external/np/sta/ed/guide.htm--which was produced by a group of international agencies working together under the auspices of the TFFS. The printed version of this new Guide will be available in English later in 2002, together with other language versions. 1Australia is availing itself of special transitional arrangements approved by the Executive Board under the Third Review for countries implementing accrual accounting for fiscal data. 2Advance release calendars posted on the DSBB refer to release dates for data categories that meet or exceed the requirements of the SDDS in terms of coverage, periodicity, and timeliness (except if the subscriber is utilizing a flexibility option). While monitoring observance of the SDDS against advance release calendars implies adherence to the timeliness element of the data dimension, the posting of advance release calendars engenders adherence to the other externally monitorable elements of the SDDS. |