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

john hurley : economic developments in ireland and other issues opening statement by mr john hurley, governor of the central bank and financial services authority of ireland, at the presentation of the annual report 2004, dublin, 12 july 2005. * * * you are all very welcome to this press briefing to mark the publication of the central bank ’ s annual report for 2004. the annual report gives a detailed account of our activities in 2004. it again proved to be a very busy period for us, with major developments at both domestic and european levels. the re - structuring of the central bank that took place in 2003 was firmly bedded down last year. as you know, the creation of the financial regulator as a distinct component of the central bank and financial services authority of ireland was a major development that has led to significant change throughout our organisation. i am happy to report that these new arrangements are working very well. the financial regulator will be publishing its own annual report next week, which will give details of its very busy agenda of the past year or so. while the central bank has overall responsibility for financial stability, the financial regulator is, in addition to its very significant consumer mandate, responsible for the prudential supervision of individual financial institutions. the greatest interaction between the two sides of the organisation is in the area of financial stability. we have in place a joint committee, the financial stability committee, as a very important element in this cooperation. the central bank will be publishing the financial stability report in october. as was the case last year, it will focus in particular on risks to financial stability. as is usual, the annual report today contains detail on our extensive eurosystem responsibilities, including those in the areas of monetary policy, payments, financial markets and currency. economic developments i would now like to turn to the general economic situation. the irish economy is continuing to perform well with gnp growth of 5½ per cent in 2004 ( gdp, 4. 9 per cent ). this underlying strength is reflected in the labour market with unemployment at around 4½ per cent in 2004, falling to just over 4 per cent in the first quarter of this year. total employment grew by almost 4 per cent in the same period. this was the fastest rate of growth since the end of 2000, with the construction and related sectors accounting for almost half of this increase. this reflects the fact that the construction sector here is large in relation to other euro area countries, accounting for about 12 per cent of employment compared to about