Press Release No. 12/264

Press Release: IMF Unveils Japanese-Funded Project to Help Produce Internationally Comparable National Accounts and Price Statistics in South-Eastern Europe

July 19, 2012

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has launched a multi-year project aimed at building statistical capacity and improving national accounts and price statistics in nine South-Eastern European countries. The project, funded by the Government of Japan through the Japan Account administered by the IMF, was launched during a July 16-20 workshop in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo. The workshop brought together national accountants from six of the nine countries participating -- Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia. A second workshop will be held in October 2012 for national accountants from the other three participants, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine.

The IMF will provide support and assistance primarily through three long-term experts based in the region. In addition, countries will benefit from hands-on visits by short-term experts. Technical workshops will be conducted to provide practical training and facilitate sharing of experiences amongst the participating countries.

His Excellency Hideo Yamazaki, Japanese Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and IMF Statistics Department’s Assistant Director Armida San Jose opened the workshop. In his remarks, Ambassador Yamazaki said that “The Government of Japan is providing assistance based on our conviction that reliable statistics is the essential prerequisite for sound economic planning in a country. I hope that through this project the statistical system of participating countries will be strengthened and the outcome will contribute to better economic planning as well as sustainable economic growth of the region”. The participants expressed their gratitude to the Government of Japan and the IMF for making possible this much needed capacity building program in the region.

The Sarajevo workshop focused on the national accounts component of the program; the price statistics module will be initiated in 2013.