Press Release No. 09/303

Press Release: IMF Report Welcomes Improvement in Quality of Turkey's Macroeconomic Data

September 11, 2009

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) today posted a report documenting an improvement in the quality of macroeconomic data published by Turkey. At the authorities’ request, IMF staff prepared an Update of the Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC)—Data Module. The previous ROSC was published in March 2002.

The newly-released report finds that Turkey’s macroeconomic statistics are of high quality, broadly conforming to the international standards for data compilation and dissemination, and reflecting considerable improvement since 2001. The substantial progress reflects the authorities’ commitment to statistical development, including through the more robust framework established by the Statistics Law of Turkey (No. 5429) of November 2005. Progress is also reflected in improved methodology, more advanced techniques, expanded source data, and greater attention to user needs. Some scope for further improvement remains, and several of the recommendations in the report are already being implemented or are scheduled to be implemented in the Official Statistics Program 2007-2011.

The datasets assessed in Turkey’s data ROSC are the national accounts, consumer prices, producer prices, government finance, monetary, and balance of payments statistics. The agencies that compile the datasets assessed in the report are the Turkish Statistical Institute, the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, the Ministry of Finance, the Undersecretariat of the Treasury, and the State Planning Organization. The Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC)—Data Module for Turkey is available on the Fund’s website at http://dsbb.imf.org/Applications/web/dqrs/dqrsroscs.