On 1 December, Malta subscribed to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS), bringing the number of subscribing countries to 66, including all 16 members of the euro area.
The SDDS subscription is a major step for official statistics and for data users. SDDS subscription represents a strong commitment to transparency, as well as a significant achievement in implementing internationally accepted best practices in the dissemination of statistics. In accordance with the policy governing new subscribers, Malta meets all current SDDS requirements. These requirements are also in line with the National Statistics Office’s mission statement.
The SDDS, established by the IMF in March 1996, is intended to guide members in the provision of their economic and financial data to the public. Subscription to the SDDS is expected to enhance the availability of timely and comprehensive statistics, thereby contributing to the pursuit of sound macroeconomic policies and the improved functioning of financial markets.
In its comprehensive view of the provision of economic and financial data, SDDS identifies four dimensions of data dissemination:
• the data: coverage, periodicity and timeliness;
• access by the public;
• integrity of the disseminated data; and
• quality of the disseminated data.
For each of these dimensions, the SDDS prescribes good practices that can be observed, or monitored, by the users of statistics. For example, for the dimensions of data access, integrity and quality, the SDDS emphasises transparency in the compilation and dissemination of data. Under these dimensions, in the interest of flexibility, some practices are prescribed and others are encouraged. To promote equal access, the SDDS prescribes the advance dissemination of release calendars and the simultaneous release to all users. To assist users in assessing the integrity of the data, the SDDS also prescribes the provision of information about revisions and advance notice of major changes in methodology.
SDDS is one of the Fund’s two standards for the compilation and dissemination of statistical data. Malta’s SDDS subscription was a natural progression from the General Data Dissemination System (GDDS). In September 2000, Malta was one of the first countries to participate in the GDDS and to observe the prescribed guidelines for dissemination of economic and financial statistics.
The progression to the SDDS intensified over the past year, with IMF officials visiting Malta to monitor progress made by the National Statistics Office and the Central Bank of Malta in the compilation and timely dissemination of data.
Although subscription is voluntary, a subscribing member commits itself to observe the Standard and to provide information (metadata) to the IMF about its data dissemination practices. This information is made publicly available on the IMF’s Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB).
The DSBB now provides comprehensive documentation on the statistical practices of Malta in respect of SDDS data categories, hyperlinked to actual country data included in the mandatory National Summary Data Page maintained by the National Statistics Office. Similarly, information and metadata for the euro area are available on a dedicated DSBB page.
The National Statistics Office has appointed Mr Robert Mizzi and Mr Mark Galea as SDDS co-ordinator and as alternate respectively. They may be contacted on 2599 7210 or 2599 7240.
