Press Release No. 15/15

Press Release: The Netherlands Adheres to the IMF’s Special Data Dissemination Standard Plus

January 27, 2015

The Netherlands has completed the requirements for adherence to the International Monetary Fund’s Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) Plus—the highest tier of the Data Standards Initiatives. The Netherlands’ SDDS Plus data are now posted on the Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board at http://dsbb.imf.org/Pages/SDDS/Home.aspx?sp=y.

“Close collaboration over the past several months between Statistics Netherlands, De Nederlandsche Bank, and IMF staff has resulted in the Netherlands becoming one of the first countries to adhere to this new and rigorous standard,” said Sylvia Butzke, Director of Statistics at De Nederlandsche Bank. “We are excited to rollout a fully updated National Summary Data Page, which has links to all Dutch SDDS and SDDS Plus data, including improved downloading features and detailed descriptions of the sources and methods used,” added Hanneke Imbens, Director of Macroeconomic Statistics at Statistics Netherlands.

Louis Marc Ducharme, Director of the IMF’s Statistics Department, welcomed the Netherlands’ adherence and noted that “the dissemination of the new data sets under the SDDS Plus will be invaluable in fostering a deeper understanding and assessment of the performance of the Dutch financial sector, the cross-border-financial linkages of the Netherlands, and the vulnerabilities of its economy to shocks.”

The SDDS Plus builds on the SDDS and its purpose is to assist statistically advanced member countries with regard to the publication of comprehensive, timely, accessible, and reliable economic and financial data in an environment of continuing economic and financial integration.

The Data Standards Initiatives were established in the mid-1990s to enhance member countries’ data transparency and to promote the development of sound statistical systems. The need for data standards was highlighted by the financial crises of the mid-1990s and again in the late-2000s, when information deficiencies were seen to play a role. The Data Standards Initiatives also include the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) and the General Data Dissemination System (GDDS).

Detailed information on the Data Standards Initiatives can be found on the Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board at www.dsbb.imf.org. For more information on SDDS Plus and its worldwide launch see also the IMF’s press release of 18 November 2014.