Malta applies for International Monetary Fund SDDS subscription
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Today the National Statistics Office, as the competent agency for co-ordinating and overseeing Malta’s entry into the Special Data Dissemination Standard, submitted its formal application to the International Monetary Fund. In his letter to the Fund, Mr Michael Pace Ross, NSO Director General, stated that, in accordance with the policy governing new subscribers, Malta meets all current SDDS requirements.
The Special Data Dissemination Standard, a monitored standard, was established by the International Monetary Fund to guide member countries that have, or that might seek, access to international capital markets in the provision of their economic and financial data to the public. The SDDS is expected to enhance the availability of timely and comprehensive statistics and therefore to support the pursuit of sound macroeconomic policies, as well as to contribute to the improved functioning of financial markets. A member country’s subscription to the SDDS is voluntary. However, it carries a commitment by the subscribing member to observe the Standard and to provide certain information to the IMF about its practices in disseminating economic and financial data. To date, 64 countries subscribe to the SDDS.
In its comprehensive view of the provision of economic and financial data, the SDDS identifies four dimensions:
• The data: coverage, periodicity and timeliness;
• Access by the public;
• Integrity of the disseminated data; and
• Quality of the disseminated data.
For each of these dimensions, the SDDS prescribes good practices that can be observed by the users of statistics and monitored by the Fund. The SDDS is part of the Fund’s Data Standards Initiatives for the compilation and dissemination of statistical data. Malta’s SDDS application is a natural progression from the General Data Dissemination System (GDDS). In 2003, Malta was one of the first countries to participate in the GDDS and to observe the prescribed guidelines for dissemination of economic and financial statistics.
The progression to SDDS intensified over the past year, with IMF officials John Cady and Mico Mrkaic visiting Malta to monitor progress made by the National Statistics Office and the Central Bank of Malta in the compilation and timely dissemination of data. The officials also had discussions with the Permanent Secretary within the Ministry of Finance, the Economy and Investment. Malta is expected to subscribe to the SDDS on 1 December 2009.
The SDDS guide is available on the IMF website at http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/sdds/guide/2007/eng/sddsguide.pdf
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