Quarterly Update on the SDDS Archive

Standards and Codes

New Subscriber

On June 29, 2001, Tunisia became the 49th subscriber to the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) and the second new subscriber (the first was Brazil) since the end of the transition period in December 1998. This means that Tunisia met all SDDS requirements at the time of subscription.

Observance Status

By the end of the second quarter, 43 of the 49 subscribers met the SDDS specifications for the coverage, periodicity, and timeliness of the data and for the dissemination of advance release calendars (ARCs), compared with 39 subscribers at the end of the previous quarter (Table 1).¹ A complete list of subscribers indicating those in observance may be accessed on the Fund's Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB) at http://dsbb.imf.org/Applications/web/sddscountrylist/.

As of June 30, 2001 five SDDS subscribers—Austria, Iceland, India, Ireland, and Turkey—were not in observance because they had not yet completed all transition plans. (Subsequently, as the paper on the Fourth Review of the Fund's Data Standards Initiatives indicates, only Iceland and India are not in observance of the SDDS as of July 17, 2001. This paper will be disseminated shortly.) Following contacts with Fund management and staff, they indicated the series of measures they were taking to come into observance of the Standard and these were posted on the DSBB. Fund staff has continued to monitor the posted plans and work actively with the national authorities of the subscribers in addressing outstanding observance issues.

Monitoring

Monitoring of the data and access dimensions of the SDDS is carried out against the release dates stated in subscribers' advance release calendars and metadata. In the second quarter, more subscribers met their release dates for the dissemination of monthly and quarterly data (Table 2).

• Improvements in meeting scheduled release dates were recorded for all data categories.

• The number of subscribers meeting the release dates for the reserves template maintained an upward trend.

• Poorest performances continued to be recorded for data on Central government operations and Central government debt.

Table 2. Monitoring of Observance of the SDDS, July 2000–June 2001 Percentage of Monthly and Quarterly Data Disseminated on Time1 (Quarterly Averages)
Data Categories	Q3/00	Q4/00	Q1/01	Q2 01
Monthly and Quarterly Data	70.0	78.8	85.3	90.2
Monthly Data	71.7	79.5	85.6	90.0
Production index	72.9	76.2	86.8	88.7
Consumer prices	76.3	82.6	90.4	95.7
Producer prices	75.7	82.4	89.5	92.6
Central government operations	61.4	71.9	74.4	78.9
Analytical accounts of banking sector	72.1	78.3	82.2	86.0
Analytical accounts of central bank	64.0	79.9	82.0	88.6
Official reserves	76.6	84.1	87.0	92.2
Reserve template	73.8	85.7	92.9	93.7
Merchandise trade	72.9	74.3	85.5	93.6
Quarterly Data	67.5	77.8	84.8	90.6
National accounts	74.1	75.0	86.5	94.1
Employment	67.0	84.8	84.2	96.2
Unemployment	69.2	83.5	87.6	94.4
Wages and earnings	62.9	75.3	88.8	92.9
Central government debt	60.4	69.0	74.1	77.8
Balance of payments	71.3	79.3	87.5	88.1
1Number of data categories released on the day announced in the advance release calendar as a percentage of the total number of data categories to be released.

DSBB Enhancements

A key component of the DSBB enhancement project is the implementation of a state-of-the-art Content Management System. This system, in conjunction with the development of an XML-based open exchange language for statistical information on the Internet, will substantially improve the functionality of the DSBB. These enhancements will result in significantly upgraded searching and querying facilities on the DSBB and open the possibility of searching and querying the content of related websites. Toward this end, the IMF, in collaboration with BIS, ECB, Eurostat, OECD, and the UN, has formed a task force on Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange (StatDMX) that is currently addressing the standardization of the exchange of statistical information. The standards and protocols developed will be forward looking, based on current investments in data and metadata exchange systems, and incorporating new technologies available in the market.

An initial meeting will be held at IMF headquarters, in Washington, D.C., during September 6–7, 2001. The purpose of this meeting is to explore the achievements of task force members to date in electronic exchange and dissemination of data and metadata, to look at emerging trends in electronic business, and to consider how these trends may be supportive of current business practices. Possible next steps for achieving greater flexibility and efficiency in data and metadata exchange include the development of common standards and protocols for electronic exchange that are consistent with emerging standards for electronic business (for further information on this workshop, please send an email request to sdmx@imf.org).

Other DSBB Developments

Metadata for Euro area financial and external sector aggregates, developed by the European Central Bank (ECB) in close cooperation with the IMF, have been posted on the DSBB. They can be accessed at http://dsbb.imf.org/Applications/web/euronote/. The metadata refer, in aggregate, to the twelve Euro area members, ten of whom are subscribers to the SDDS, and provide a useful supplement to the metadata already posted by subscribers on the DSBB. More recently, access to actual data as well as advance release calendars for several of the data categories disseminated by the ECB, including the reserves template, has been added.

Access to the data and metadata - Euro-indicators - developed by the Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat) from the Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB) has been established. Links to the Euro-indicators can be accessed at http://dsbb.imf.org/Applications/web/eurostatnote/ for the following categories: national accounts; industry, commerce, services and energy; monetary and financial indicators; merchandise trade and balance of payments. These indicators cover the euro-zone and the European Union (EU-15) as a whole and, where available, each member state. In addition, data and metadata for consumer prices, labor market, and business and consumer surveys covering the European Union (EU-15) as a whole are available. A link to the Eurostat homepage also has been provided.

Interest in the SDDS among users has continued to grow. The number of "hits" on the DSBB has risen threefold since March 2001 to over three quarters of a million in June 2001. During the IMF's outreach efforts to the private sector, the SDDS has been among the standards in which the most interest has been displayed. The most recent outreach efforts, in April 2001, indicate a growing practice amongst financial analysts of including SDDS observance, and information derived from the DSBB, in their country assessments.

Enhanced Cooperation with SDDS Subscribers

In order to facilitate more frequent consultations, we plan to launch an electronic discussion group, or e-Room, for SDDS coordinators and Fund staff before the end of the year. This would allow coordinators to raise issues and offer suggestions on the operation of the SDDS and would provide a forum for consultation on proposals to streamline the operations of the Standard and improve the serviceability of the DSBB.

Fourth Review of the Fund's Data Standards Initiatives

On July 23, 2001 the Executive Board of the IMF conducted its Fourth Review of the Fund's Data Standards Initiatives, covering both the SDDS and the GDDS. The Fourth Review dealt with a range of issues that highlighted both the evolution and the consolidation of the Fund's transparency standards including, inter alia, observance of the SDDS, the IMF's work on data quality, and the SDDS within the context of the Report on Observance of Standards and Codes (ROSC). The results of the Board discussion will be reported in the next Quarterly Update for the third quarter of 2001.