Qatar has launched a National Summary Data Page (NSDP) in implementing the recommendations of the IMF’s Enhanced General Data Dissemination System (e-GDDS). 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 NSDP is hosted by the Planning and Statistics Authority on its website, utilising the Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange, and is accessible on the IMF’s Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board . The NSDP page contains links to statistics published by official data producers, namely the Planning and Statistics Authority, the Qatar Central Bank, and the Ministry of Finance.
The page aims to serve as a one-stop publication vehicle for essential macroeconomic data on the national accounts, government operations and debt, monetary and financial sector and the balance of payments.
The 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 congratulate the authorities for the launch of the NSDP, an important step forward in data dissemination. I am confident that Qatar will benefit from using the e-GDDS as a framework for further development of its statistical system.”
According to IMF, the purposes of the e-GDDSare to: encourage member countries to improve data quality; guide members in the provision to the public of comprehensive, timely, accessible, and reliable economic, financial, and socio-demographic statistics; provide a framework for evaluating needs for data improvement and dissemination as well as setting priorities; and provide a dissemination platform to measure and monitor progress.
Participation in the e-GDDS is on a voluntary basis. Participants make best efforts to disseminate the data categories included in the e-GDDS, and are encouraged to discuss data and dissemination issues with IMF staff, particularly during (and outside of) the regular Article IV consultations.
