Press Release No. 17/317

The Federated States of Micronesia Implement the IMF's Enhanced General Data Dissemination System

August 2, 2017

A mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s Statistics Department visited Pohnpei in May 2017, to assist the authorities with the implementation of the Enhanced General Data Dissemination System (e-GDDS) and the development of a National Summary Data Page (NSDP). Over the past months, the main statistical agencies involved have worked together to finalize the NSDP, utilizing the Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange (SDMX). The NSDP, which serves as a one-stop publication vehicle for essential macroeconomic data is now posted on the website of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM)’s Division of Statistics, at: http://www.fsmstats.fm/?page_id=605.

Publication of essential macroeconomic data through the new NSDP will provide policy makers and stakeholders, including investors and rating agencies with easy access to information critical for monitoring economic conditions and policies. Making this information easily accessible in both human and machine-readable formats will allow all users to have simultaneous access to timely data. The authorities are preparing to release the data according to a disciplined dissemination schedule based on an Advance Release Calendar, which will bring greater data transparency to all users at the same time.

The authorities are very pleased that the FSM has reached this important milestone in its quest for dissemination of quality statistics. The new National Summary Data Page has started to give users access to the e-GDDS data categories from July 24, 2017.

Background

The e-GDDS was established by the IMF’s Executive Board in May 2015 to support improved data transparency, encourage statistical development, and help create synergies between data dissemination and surveillance. The e-GDDS supersedes the GDDS, which had been established in 1997. A link to the country’s NSDP is available on the IMF’s Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB), at: http://dsbb.imf.org . Watch this short video that gives a broad overview of the benefits of the e-GDDS.