Press Release No. 15/58

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

February 18, 2015

Italy 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. Italy’s SDDS Plus data are now posted on the Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB: SDDS Plus Adherents).

“Italy is among the first group of countries to adhere to SDDS Plus, thanks to the collaboration between Italian agencies and IMF staff. The release of the new National Summary Data Page offers links to Italian SDDS Plus data produced by Istat, Bank of Italy, and Ministry of Economy and Finance" said Emanuele Baldacci, Director of Integration, Quality, Research and Production Networks Development Department at Istat.

Louis Marc Ducharme, Director of the IMF’s Statistics Department, welcomed Italy’s 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 Italy’s financial sector, the cross-border-financial linkages of Italy, and the vulnerabilities of the 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 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.