Press Release No. 09/146

Press Release: The Republic of Serbia Begins Participation in the IMF's General Data Dissemination System

May 1, 2009

The Republic of Serbia began participating in the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) General Data Dissemination System (GDDS) on May 1, 2009, marking a major step forward in the development of its statistical system. Comprehensive information on Serbian statistical production and dissemination practices now appears on the IMF’s Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (http://dsbb.imf.org/Applications/web/gdds/gddscountrylist/).

To mark the occasion, Prof. Dragan Vukmirovic, Director of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, noted: “The Republic of Serbia is committed to use the IMF’s General Data Dissemination System as a general framework to continue developing the national statistical system consistent with best international practices. The participation of the Republic of Serbia in the GDDS will also lead to the production and dissemination of more reliable and timely statistics.”

Ms. Adelheid Burgi-Schmelz, Director of the IMF Statistics Department, welcomed Serbia’s participation in the GDDS. “Serbia’s participation in the GDDS is a major milestone in the country’s statistical development,” she said. “I am confident that Serbia will benefit from using the GDDS as a framework for further development of its statistical system. This could also be a step towards subscription to the Fund’s Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS), as this was successfully done by some countries in the region which have graduated from GDDS to SDDS.”

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. The Republic of Serbia is the 96^th GDDS participant.