Press Release No. 05/240

Press Release: Liberia Formally Begins Participation in the IMF's General Data Dissemination System

October 25, 2005

Liberia has begun participating in the General Data Dissemination System (GDDS) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), marking a major step forward in the development of the country's statistical system. Comprehensive information on its statistical production and dissemination practices now appears on the IMF's Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB)¹.

Mr. T. Edward Liberty, Director-General of the Liberia Institute for Statistics and Geo-information Services stated, "The Liberia Institute for Statistics and Geo-information Services (LISGIS) is pleased to announce its subscription to the General Data Dissemination System (GDDS) of the International Monetary Fund. LISGIS further pledges its commitment to conduct statistical activities in accordance with international guidelines for the production and dissemination of official statistics. LISGIS' full subscription to the GDDS is a milestone in the continuing improvements to the statistical standard of Liberia."

To date, 86 countries have participated in the GDDS and five have graduated to become subscribers to the IMF Special Data Dissemination Standard. At present, 81 GDDS participants disseminate metadata (that is, descriptions of statistical methods and practices) and plans for improvement for their statistics and related technical assistance needs on the DSBB. The plans for improvement provide the international community with a useful framework to develop and coordinate technical cooperation projects for GDDS countries.

Mr. Robert W. Edwards, Director of the IMF Statistics Department, recently said: "Liberia's participation in the General Data Dissemination System is a major accomplishment and will allow the country to take full advantage of this framework for developing its economic, financial, and socio-demographic data."

The GDDS, established by the IMF in 1997, provides a framework to assist IMF member countries to develop their statistical systems with the objective of producing comprehensive and accurate statistics for policymaking and analysis. It addresses the quality and the dissemination of data.