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Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the goal of the GDDS?

2. Why was the GDDS introduced?

3. When was the GDDS introduced?

4. How does the Fund support the GDDS?

5. How do countries participate? What are the requirements for participation?

6. Which countries participate in the GDDS?

7. Who benefits from the GDDS?

8. What is the relationship between the metadata prepared by countries and the data they disseminate?

9. What is the relationship between the GDDS and the SDDS?

10. Can countries move from the GDDS to the SDDS?

1. What is the goal of the GDDS?
	The principal goal of the GDDS is to assist countries in the development of their overall statistical systems. The emphasis is on the quality of the data and the dissemination practices for economic, financial, and socio-demographic statistics.
	The GDDS focuses on assisting countries to formulate comprehensive, but prioritized, plans for improvement in compilation and dissemination practices. In this respect, the country information developed by national statistical agencies describes: (a) improvements that have been implemented in the recent past, such as adoption of practices set out in the "System of National Accounts 1993" or in the fifth edition of the "Balance of Payments Manual", or the introduction of an enterprise survey; and (b) plans for improvement that address remaining shortcomings in the short and medium term.
	To provide a framework for improving statistical systems, the GDDS sets out objectives for data production and dissemination. These objectives relate to four properties ("dimensions"):
	Data coverage, periodicity and timeliness relates to the production and dissemination of economic, financial, and socio-demographic data by member countries; Quality of the data relates to information that is available to users to assess the data covered by the system; Integrity of the data relates to the confidence of the user community in the data produced by the statistical systems; and *Access by the public* relates to the dissemination of official statistics to users in a convenient and equitable manner.
2. Why was the GDDS introduced?
	In the wake of several severe international financial crises that began in 1994, there was heightened awareness that the ready availability of comprehensive, reliable, and timely data would facilitate the formulation, implementation, and monitoring of sound macroeconomic policies and investment decisions, thereby reducing the frequency and moderating the severity of future crises.
3. When was the GDDS introduced?
	In October 1995, the Interim Committee of the Fund's Board of Governors recommended the establishment of a two-tier standard: the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS), and the General Data Dissemination System (GDDS). The formal decisions to establish the SDDS and GDDS were taken in March 1996 and December 1997, respectively. During a review of the IMF's data standards in March 2000, the Executive Board upgraded specific components of external debt and debt service within the GDDS, and in November 2001 it approved the newly articulated socio-demographic component of the GDDS.
4. How does the Fund support the GDDS?
	Responsibility for implementing the GDDS rests at the individual country level. A country has flexibility in selecting both the pace and method of implementation.
	The Fund plays a supporting role, principally through the provision of technical assistance to countries in developing GDDS metadata and achieving their plans, as set out in the metadata, for improving current statistical production and dissemination practices. The Statistics Department of the Fund has been integrating the GDDS in its technical assistance activities, and is advising other technical assistance providers on the use of the GDDS as a tool for statistical capacity building. To assist member countries wishing to participate in the GDDS, the Fund also issued a "Guide to the General Data Dissemination System". The Fund has also established, as a service to the membership and the statistical and user communities at large, the GDDS site on the Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board, where metadata of GDDS participants are posted.
5. How do countries participate? What are the requirements for participation?
	Participation by Fund members in the GDDS is voluntary. It involves a commitment to undertake three actions relative to the GDDS:
	Adopt the GDDS as a framework for the development of national systems for the production and dissemination of economic, financial, and socio-demographic data; Designate a country coordinator who will act as the main interlocutor with Fund staff on all issues relating to participation and implementation of the GDDS; and Prepare descriptions of statistical practices, i.e., metadata, that will be disseminated by the Fund on the Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board. The metadata cover (a) current statistical production and dissemination practices and (b) plans for short- and medium-term improvements, and, if applicable, associated technical and other assistance required to implement these plans.
	Participants in the GDDS are expected to review and, if necessary, update their metadata at least once a year. The purpose of these reviews is to maintain the currentness and relevance of the descriptions provided, and to adapt plans for improvement as progress is made with their implementation and as new initiatives are adopted to address evolving needs. Participating member countries are encouraged to promote local awareness of practices and initiatives by posting the GDDS metadata (perhaps in the national language(s)) on national websites.
6. Which countries participate in the GDDS?
	Participation in the GDDS is open to all member countries of the IMF. Participating countries have their metadata posted on the IMF's Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board.
7. Who benefits from the GDDS?
	Among the principal potential beneficiaries of the GDDS are national statistical agencies, the users of data, and the providers of technical assistance.
	National statistical agencies can benefit by adopting the GDDS framework to evaluate and improve their statistical systems in a comprehensive and systematic way, across a broad range of data and statistical agencies. Against this background, the GDDS is one of the most important strategic projects for the Fund in the area of statistics, where a long-standing objective has been the improvement of data and statistical practices among the membership. From the perspective of the data using community, the GDDS can provide a valuable body of information regarding the state of statistical development and plans for improvement of participating countries. The detailed metadata also provide users with information necessary to assess effectively the usefulness of the data for their own particular purposes. The GDDS is also a valuable resource for bilateral and multilateral providers of technical assistance, and it can be a tool to enhance cooperation between such providers.
8. What is the relationship between the metadata prepared by countries and the data they disseminate?
	The metadata describe countries' statistical practices with respect to the production and dissemination of economic, financial, and socio-demographic data. Actual country data can be found in the national publications (electronic or hard copy) that are referenced in the metadata. Data cannot currently be accessed directly through the GDDS site on the Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board. However, countries posting metadata on their national websites may choose to develop hyperlinks to their data.
9. What is the relationship between the GDDS and the SDDS?
	In establishing the GDDS and the SDDS, the IMF recognized that different needs can lead member countries to subscribe to or participate in one or the other system. The GDDS is less prescriptive than the SDDS, which sets specific standards that must be observed by subscribing countries. The GDDS provides recommendations on good practice for the production and dissemination of statistics (generally less demanding than the corresponding requirements of the SDDS), but the emphasis is on progress over time toward higher quality data that are disseminated more frequently and in a more timely fashion.
	Other differences between the two systems are:
	The GDDS does not set specific future dates by which participants must complete improvements in existing practices. The primary focus of the GDDS is on improvement in data quality by providing a process for evaluating needs for data improvements and setting priorities toward that end. The GDDS metadata, therefore, identify the national authorities' plans for improvement in the short and medium term, as well as any associated needs for assistance in implementing these plans. This stands in contrast with the SDDS, where the focus is on data dissemination by countries that, in general, already meet high data quality standards. In addition to macroeconomic and financial data (for the real, fiscal, financial, and external sectors) covered in the SDDS, the GDDS covers socio-demographic data (population, health, education, and poverty). A set of recommended good practices within each of these four socio-demographic data categories has been elaborated by the IMF and the World Bank, in collaboration with other international institutions.
10. Can countries move from the GDDS to the SDDS?
	Participation in the GDDS is open to all Fund members, whereas the SDDS is intended for member countries having or seeking access to international capital markets. However, some countries may view the GDDS as a stepping-stone toward the SDDS as they make progress to meet requirements of this more demanding standard. Information on the SDDS is also available on the Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board.