Press Release No. 13/449

Press Release: Myanmar Begins Participation in the IMF’s General Data Dissemination System

November 14, 2013

The Republic of the Union of Myanmar began participating today in the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) General Data Dissemination System (GDDS), marking a major step forward in the development of its statistical system. Comprehensive information on Myanmar’s statistical production and dissemination practices now appears on the IMF’s Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (http://dsbb.imf.org/Applications/web/gdds/gddscountrylist/).

Myanmar is the 110^th GDDS participant and the sixth country to join this system in the last 12 months.

To mark the occasion, His Excellency Dr. Kan Zaw, Minister of National Planning and Economic Development, noted: “Myanmar is committed to use the IMF’s General Data Dissemination System as a general framework to continue developing the national statistical system consistent with the best international practices.”

Mr. Louis Marc Ducharme, Director of the IMF’s Statistics Department, said: “I am pleased to welcome Myanmar’s participation in the GDDS. Myanmar’s participation in the GDDS is an important milestone and marks a crucial step for Myanmar’s statistical development.”

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.