Pakistan implements IMF system to ensure transparency on economic data

F.P. Report

ISLAMABD: Pakistan has implemented the recommendations of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Enhanced General Data Dissemination System (e-GDDS) by publishing critical data through the National Summary Data Page (NSDP).

IMF issued a press release on Wednesday and it stated that the e-GDDS was established by the IMF in 2015 to support improved data transparency, encourage statistical development, and help create synergies between data dissemination and surveillance.

It added that the NSDP is a national “data portal” that serves as a one-stop publication vehicle for essential macroeconomic data on the national accounts, government operations and debt, monetary and financial sector, and balance of payments, among others.

The NSDP is hosted by Pakistan’s Bureau of Statistics, utilizing the Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange. A link to Pakistan’s NSDP is available on the IMF’s Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board. The NSDP contains links to statistics published by the Ministry of Finance, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, and the State Bank of Pakistan.

Publication of essential macroeconomic data through the NSDP will provide national policy makers and domestic and international 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 users to have simultaneous access to timely data and bring greater data transparency.

Louis Marc Ducharme, Chief Statistician and Data Officer, and Director of the IMF’s Statistics Department, welcomed this major milestone in the country’s statistical development. “I am confident that Pakistan will benefit from using the e-GDDS as a framework for further development of its statistical system.”