Sri Lanka elevated by IMF in data dissemination
View(s):Sri Lanka this week subscribed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS), bringing the number of subscribing jurisdictions to 66. Sri Lanka is the 15th country to graduate to the SDDS from the IMF’s General Data Dissemination System (GDDS), in which the country has participated since July 14, 2000, the agency said in a public announcement.
Sri Lanka has benefitted from a project on the Improvement of Data Dissemination in the Asia and Pacific Region, financed by the government of Japan, which aims to assist countries to subscribe to the SDDS and promote data dissemination under the e-GDDS. Sri Lanka is the 12th jurisdiction in the Asia and Pacific region to subscribe to the SDDS.
“Sri Lanka’s subscription to the SDDS represents a major step forward for official statistics in the country and for data users,” said Louis Marc Ducharme, Director of the IMF’s Statistics Department. “The subscription to the standard underscores Sri Lanka’s strong commitment to transparency, as well as the adoption of internationally accepted best practices in statistics,” he added.
Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran said, “Sri Lanka has been working with the IMF to improve the country’s macroeconomic statistics to internationally accepted levels. Sri Lanka’s subscription to the SDDS is another landmark in its collaboration with the IMF in improving quality, transparency and timeliness of our statistics”.“We believe that this is essential for a better understanding of the Sri Lankan economy by investors, and we are committed to continue working with the IMF towards strengthening our statistical systems further,” he added.
The SDDS, established by the IMF in March 1996, is intended to guide members in the provision of economic and financial data to the public. Subscription to the SDDS enhances the availability of timely statistics, thereby contributing to sound macroeconomic policies and the more efficient functioning of financial markets.