Press Release No. 13/122

Press Release: Bosnia and Herzegovina joins the IMF’s General Data Dissemination System

April 15, 2013

Bosnia and Herzegovina marked a major step in the process of developing its national statistical system today by participating in the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) General Data Dissemination System (GDDS).

“Adopting the IMF’s GDDS as a framework for developing the national statistical system shows our commitment to implementing international best practice, and will help us produce and disseminate more reliable and timely statistics,” commented Mr. Zdenko Milinović, Director of the Agency for Statistics of Bosnia and Herzegovina. “We have made considerable progress in the last few years and will continue to give full support to the development of macroeconomic statistics. Better statistics will significantly improve the domestic policymaking process and enhance our ability to attract foreign investment,” underlined Mr. Kemal Kozarić, Governor of the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Mr. Alfredo Leone, Acting Director of the IMF’s Statistics Department, welcomed the country’s announcement and noted: “This is an important milestone, which will support further developments of the country’s statistical system.”

The GDDS was established by the IMF in 1997. It provides a framework to help countries develop their statistical systems to produce comprehensive and accurate statistics for policymaking and analysis. Bosnia and Herzegovina is the 108^th GDDS participant (excluding the countries that have graduated from the GDDS to the Special Data Dissemination Standard).

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