The Bahamas to Implement the International Monetary Fund's Enhanced General Data Dissemination System

Published: Monday October 22nd, 2018

A mission of the International Monetary Fund’s Statistics Department visited Nassau during October 16 – October 22, 2018, to assist the Bahamas with the implementation of the Enhanced General Data Dissemination System (e GDDS), which was endorsed by the IMF’s Executive Board in May 2015.

The mission supported the development of the National Summary Data Page (NSDP), which will be posted on the website of the Central Bank of The Bahamas, in coordination with the Ministry of Finance and the Department of Statistics. The page will utilize the Statistical Data and Metadata Exchange (SDMX) and aims to serve as a one-stop publication vehicle for key macroeconomic and financial data.

Publication of these data through the new NSDP will provide national policy makers, domestic and international stakeholders—including investors and rating agencies—with easy access to information that the IMF’s Executive Board has identified as critical for monitoring economic conditions and policies. Making this information easily accessible, will allow all users to have simultaneous access to timely data and will bring greater data transparency.

The authorities are encouraged by the progress which has been made in order to achieve this important milestone, in its quest for a more orderly publication of statistics. The NSDP will give users access to full information about The Bahamas’ e-GDDS data categories, and is expected to be implemented December 21, 2018.

Background

The e-GDDS was established by the IMF’s Executive Board in May 2015 to support improved data transparency, encourage statistical development, and help create synergies between data dissemination and surveillance. The e-GDDS superseded the GDDS, which was established in 1997. A link to the country’s NSDP will be available on the IMF’s Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB): at www.dsbb.imf.org.