Germany is a pioneer in providing financial and economic data according to the IMF SDDS Plus - European Statistical System (ESS)
On 18th February, Germany became one of the first countries worldwide to meet the Data Dissemination Standard Plus (SDDS Plus) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The SDDS Plus was created in 2012, following the economic and financial crisis of 2008/2009, to extend the SDDS (Special Data Dissemination Standard), which has existed since 1996. Its purpose is to disseminate internationally comparable economic and financial data, thus enhancing the transparency of the financial sector and of international interrelations and helping in the early detection of risks. Data users will find a country's main economic and financial data at a glance. The data for Germany are supplied in close cooperation between the Federal Statistical Office, Deutsche Bundesbank and the Federal Ministry of Finance.
"Germany now meets the highest standard for the provision of economic and financial data, based on uniform specifications applying worldwide, thus making a major contribution to facilitating access to its vast range of macroeconomic data for users from all over the world", said the President of the Federal Statistical Office, Roderich Egeler.
Within the scope of SDDS Plus, the Federal Statistical Office provides manifold data from areas such as national accounts (gross domestic product, household and government final consumption expenditure, capital formation, balance of exports and imports), the labour market (persons in employment, unemployed persons, earnings), foreign trade, and other short-term indicators, for example, consumer and producer price indices. Deutsche Bundesbank and the Federal Ministry of Finance, too, contribute many statistics on financial risks and international financial interrelations.
The first countries that have indicated their readiness to join the SDDS Plus, apart from Germany, are France, Italy, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the USA. The main new feature of SDDS Plus compared with SDDS is that additional data categories will be provided by 2019, including time series of at least five years.
For further information:
- ESS website contact person: Martin Tambour