mohamed s fofana : managing sierra leone ’ s post - conflict economy keynote address by mr mohamed s fofana, deputy governor of the bank of sierra leone, at the opening ceremony of the regional forum on economic and financial management for legislators, freetown, sierra leone, 12 july 2004. * * * mr chairman, hon. minister of justice, your excellency, the high commissioner of the gambia, hon. members of national parliaments of waifem countries, director general of waifem, directors of the bank of sierra leone, distinguished guests, facilitators and participants, ladies and gentlemen, introduction it is my honour and privilege to extend a hearty welcome to all of you on behalf of the government and people of sierra leone, governor jd rogers who is unavoidably absent today, the board, management and staff of the bank of sierra leone and on my own behalf, on the occasion of the opening of the regional forum on economic and financial management for legislators organized by waifem. as host, i would like to urge you to take time out of your crowded programme to visit freetown and behold the many attractions of this rejuvenated city. ladies and gentlemen, permit me to briefly dwell on the state of the west african economy. the sub - region came into the new millennium with a combined gross domestic product ( gdp ) of us $ 80 billion, representing about 10 percent of the gdp of spain and against a backdrop of high unemployment, it is not surprising that income per capita averages 386 us dollars for our sub - region one of the lowest in the world. in addition, virtually all the countries are burdened by a huge debt overhang. indeed, only two of the 15 countries of ecowas are not classified among the highly indebted poor countries ( hipc ). ladies and gentlemen, i do not intend to spoil your day with depressing statistics about the economic performance of the sub - region as this would be tantamount to showing you only one side of the coin. the more pleasant face of this coin shows a sub - region parading some of the world ’ s leading exporters of crude oil, diamonds and gold, as well as abundant maritime resources. many of our countries also perform well in the global market for other commodities, including cocoa, cotton and groundnuts. however, when the abundant resource - endowment of the sub - region is set against its pandemic poverty, we see a development

anita angelovska bezhoska : the republic of macedonia has accessed the highest statistical data dissemination standard of the imf - sdds plus address by ms anita angelovska bezhoska, governor of the national bank of the republic of macedonia, at the event marking the adherence of the republic of macedonia to the imf ’ s special data dissemination standard ( sdds ) plus, skopje, 1 february 2019. * * * dear ladies and gentlemen, it is my great pleasure that the idea which at the national level was initiated by the national bank of the republic of macedonia several years ago, and accepted and actively supported by the state statistical office and the ministry of finance, today is already a reality. on 28 january this year, the republic of macedonia officially became a member of the highest statistical standard of the international monetary fund – sdds plus. we have jointly succeeded our country to become part of an international data dissemination initiative, which so far included only seventeen countries, including the united states, canada, france, germany, austria, italy, sweden, japan... the republic of macedonia is the eighteenth country in the world, the second from southeast europe, and the first among the countries of the region that are still not members of the european union. this successful project is a clear confirmation of the commitment of the three institutions for the continuous upgrading of national statistics and their harmonization with the latest, highest international statistical standards. what actually does this standard represent? as emphasized by the director of the state statistical office, mr. apostol simovski, the republic of macedonia has long been integrated into the system of the so - called imf ’ s data standards initiatives. this system is extremely dynamic and started to develop since the mid - 1990s, in response to the then international financial crisis, in order to promote transparency of both economic and financial data. i say dynamic, given that its construction blocks have been continuously changing and increasing. its last, third construction block is the sdds plus which reflects the weaknesses identified in the statistical data infrastructure that surfaced with the latest global economic and financial crisis from 2008. it is a fact that the genesis of the crisis was not located in the lack of data, but fact is also the identified need for an enriched data set for conducting more effective economic policies. this crisis has clearly shown how inadequate regulation and excessive risk - taking can lead to a collapse of the financial system. it has shown how the underestimation of the strength of the