The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Macedonia, FYR) subscribed today to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS), bringing the number of subscribing countries to 69.

Macedonia, FYR is the 10th country to graduate to the SDDS from the IMF’s General Data Dissemination System, which the country has participated in since February 4, 2004.

“The subscription to the SDDS of Macedonia, FYR represents a major step forward for official statistics in the country and for those who use these data,” said Ms. Adelheid Burgi-Schmelz, Director of the IMF’s Statistics Department.

“Subscription to the standards underscores the strong commitment to transparency in Macedonia, FYR, as well as a significant achievement in implementing internationally accepted best practices in statistics,” Ms. Burgi-Schmelz added.

The SDDS, established by the IMF in March 1996, is intended to guide members in the provision of their economic and financial data to the public. Subscription to the SDDS is expected to enhance the availability of timely and comprehensive statistics, thereby contributing to the pursuit of sound macroeconomic policies and the improved functioning of financial markets.

The SDDS identifies four dimensions of data dissemination—the data coverage, periodicity, and timeliness; access by the public; the integrity of the disseminated data; and the quality of the disseminated data. Although subscription is voluntary, a subscribing member commits to observe the standard and to provide information (metadata) to the IMF about its data dissemination practices. This information is made publicly available on the IMF's Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB).

The DSBB now provides comprehensive documentation in English on the statistical practices of Macedonia, FYR for SDDS data categories, hyperlinked to actual country data included in the mandatory National Summary Data Page, maintained by the State Statistical Office of Macedonia, FYR.