Press Release No. 13/104

Press Release: Tuvalu Joins the IMF’s General Data Dissemination System

April 4, 2013

Tuvalu joined the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) General Data Dissemination System (GDDS) today, marking a major step forward in the development of its statistical system.

To mark the occasion, Honorable Mr. Kausea Natano, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Communications, Transport and Public Utilities, and the Acting Minister of Finance and Economic Development, said: “Tuvalu is committed to use the IMF’s GDDS as a general framework to continue developing the national statistical system consistent with the best international practices. The participation of Tuvalu will also lead to the production and dissemination of more reliable and timely statistics.”

‘This is a major milestone in the country’s statistical development. I am confident that Tuvalu will benefit from using the GDDS as a framework for further development of its statistical system,” said Mr. Alfredo M. Leone, Acting Director of the IMF’s Statistics Department.

Comprehensive information on Tuvalu’s statistical production and dissemination practices now appears on the IMF’s Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (http://dsbb.imf.org/Applications/web/gdds/gddscountrylist/).

The GDDS was established by the IMF in 1997. It provides a framework to help countries to develop their statistical systems to produce comprehensive and accurate statistics for policymaking and analysis. Tuvalu is the 107^th GDDS participant (excluding the countries that have graduated from the GDDS to the Special Data Dissemination Standard).