Muhammad Al-Jasser: The need for national data compilation and
dissemination
Opening speech by His Excellency Dr Muhammad Al-Jasser, Governor of the Saudi Arabian
Monetary Agency (SAMA), at the Special Data Dissemination Standard and Monetary
Statistics workshop, Institute of Banking, Riyadh, 11 December 2010.
* * *
Dear Workshop Organizers and Participants,
It is my pleasure to inaugurate such an important workshop at a time when many national
data compiling agencies are confronted with ever increasing user demands and challenges.
I take this opportunity to express my thanks to all the GCC organizations (central banks,
ministries of finance, and statistics centers) participating in this event. Of course, I also
extend my appreciation to the IMF for providing pivotal leadership in building capacity for
producing official statistics in the region, and paving the way for adding new dimensions and
quality to official statistics and thereby contributing to the global statistical system.
Dear Participants,
The need to compile and disseminate data in a systematic and professional way, especially
with respect to the growing data needs, can hardly be overemphasized. For example, the
recent global financial crisis has exposed the lack of data in key statistical areas that might
have helped authorities better measure and understand the risks to the international financial
system. Remedies to fill such data gaps (e.g., maturity mismatches) are critical for monitoring
systemic risk originating from systemically important financial institutions.
Similarly, the rapid transformation of the world economy has also brought new data needs for
environmental and social welfare statistics. Data needs could originate from the necessity to
cover new areas of measurement and use new methodologies to improve data quality, use
and availability. They could also stem from the requirement to come up with new subject
measures and variables.
Therefore, national data compiling agencies must be cognizant of such evolving data needs
to remain relevant and useful. After all, it is the responsibility of the statistical community to
make sure to address new data-related challenges which are driven by current and emerging
user demands for official statistics.
It is potentially in recognition of emerging data-related challenges that the IMF took several
steps to enhance transparency and openness, and launched two key data dissemination
standards in the 1990s. These included the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS)
and the General Data Dissemination System (GDDS).
Let me briefly touch on these standards.
The SDDS was established in 1996 to guide IMF member countries, interacting or set to
interact with international capital markets, in the provision of their economic and financial
data to the public. Countries that subscribe to the SDDS agree to follow good practices in
four areas which include the coverage, periodicity, and timeliness of data, public access to
those data, data integrity, and data quality. Earlier this year, the IMF Board expanded the
scope of the SDDS to include seven financial soundness indicators in order to make all
stakeholders better understand cross-border linkages, and made it mandatory for
participating nations to report international investment positions on a quarterly basis over a
transition period of four years. Indeed, the SDDS is a global benchmark for disseminating
macroeconomic data to the public. So far 64 countries have subscribed to the SDDS.
The GDDS, on the other hand, was launched in 1997 for member countries with less
developed statistical systems. This system gives member countries a basic framework for a
broader national statistical development strategy, addresses the full range of issues critical
for compiling and disseminating data, and makes explicit plans for improvement to align
national procedures with best practices. Until now, the number of participating countries in
GDDS is 106.
Both standards share several common features, and have successfully contributed to
enhancing the range, quality, and timeliness of country data available to the public. They
have also been instrumental in providing better information to underpin the operations of
international financial markets and economic policy assessments in general, and thus
facilitating public and private decision making. May countries that have participated in GDDS
be able to eventually join the club of the SDDS. This is what Saudi Arabia has planned for.
Dear Participants,
This 5-day workshop is to expand on many data-related issues and standards, including the
ones that I have just talked about. Some of the important topics which would be covered over
the next five days include:
1. IMF's key data dissemination initiatives
2. Essentials of SDDS and its subscription
3. Essentials of standardized report forms
4. Development details of statistical bulletin tables proposed by the GCC monetary
union.
This workshop will provide an opportunity for all GCC organizations in the statistical
community to share national experiences, and lead discussions to identify areas for mutual
cooperation for further improvement in data production and presentation.
I may emphasize here that timely availability of reliable and mutually consistent national data
would be of great help to the GCC Monetary Council in its task of preparing for the
achievement of the ultimate goal of GCC Monetary Union. It will also provide the basis for
judicious policy formulations even after the establishment of the Monetary Union for the
region. I therefore urge you all, to actively engage in workshop discussions to fully
understand these matters, come to useful conclusions and make your deliberations fruitful.
Dear Participants
I hope that by the end of the workshop you will have achieved at least the following two
objectives:
1. Sufficient statistical insight to effectively address burgeoning data-related issues and
concerns, and be in a position to produce intended statistical forms and table, and;
2. Identification of some future work based on mutual cooperation.
I thank you all for your attention and wish all a productive and rewarding workshop.