Typical street scene in Santa Ana, El Salvador. (Photo: iStock)
IMF Survey: Greater Access to Data Promotes Market Efficiency
May 29, 2008
- Comprehensive data promote efficient market operation, policy accountability
- Establishing Data Dissemination Initiative in mid-1990s broke new ground
- New IMF book traces origins of initiative, documents experience
Prompted by the widely held view that the severity of the emerging market crises of the 1990s was partially attributable to a lack of timely macroeconomic and financial statistics, the international community asked the IMF to develop voluntary standards for the dissemination of economic and financial statistics.
The 100-meter-tall Bayterek Tower in Astana, Kazakhstan: the country successfully progressed from GDDS to SDDS status in 2003. (photo: Stefan Voss/DPA)
Data Transparency
The IMF established the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) in 1996 to guide IMF members that have, or that might seek, access to international capital markets in the dissemination of economic and financial data. It also prescribes that countries provide descriptions of required variables (metadata), along with preannounced time schedules for data releases.
The other tier of the Data Dissemination Initiative—the General Data Dissemination System (GDDS)—was established in 1997. The GDDS was designed as a general framework to guide participating countries in developing sound statistical systems as the basis for the provision of data to the public.
Ten years later, 153 of the IMF's 185 member countries participate in the Data Dissemination Initiative. Furthermore, the initiative is now an integral part of the international financial architecture, and financial market participants and member country governments consider that it has helped improve the functioning of international financial markets and contributed to global financial stability.
The IMF's Data Dissemination Initiative After 10 Years, edited by William E. Alexander, John Cady, and Jesus Gonzalez-Garcia, reviews the origins of the initiative and describes the experience with the SDDS and the GDDS. The book details how the SDDS was enhanced in 1999 with the introduction of the reserves template as an additional required element, followed later by the addition of requirements related to external debt and the international investment position.
The volume also includes empirical papers on the market efficiency effects of the initiative. They provide evidence that participation, in particular for SDDS subscribers, helps reduce both sovereign borrowing costs and exchange rate volatility.
The book concludes with a discussion of future challenges and possible enhancements to the initiative. Clearly, as the global economy continues to develop and becomes more interconnected, new data needs will develop that should be covered for the Data Dissemination Initiative to remain relevant. In addition, because the concept of data transparency is not yet a universally accepted notion, continuing efforts will be needed to expand participation to include countries that do not subscribe to the SDDS or participate in the GDDS.