Spain has completed the requirements for adherence to the International Monetary Fund’s Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) Plus—the highest tier of the Data Standards Initiatives. Spain’s SDDS Plus data are now posted on the Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB: SDDS Plus Adherents).

Gregorio Izquierdo, the President of the National Statistics Institute of Spain, declared “we are pleased to be one of the first countries to adhere to the SDDS Plus initiative and thus, to improve the dissemination of economic and financial data, which undoubtedly contributes to transparency and allows a better understanding of the financial sector and the general economy”. José Luis Malo de Molina, Director General of Economics, Statistics and Research at the Banco de España added that “the IMF’s strengthening of international standards for compiling and disseminating statistics is of the utmost importance, in particular given the prominent role financial issues play in this new layer”.

Louis Marc Ducharme, Director of the IMF’s Statistics Department, welcomed Spain’s adherence and noted that “the dissemination of the new data sets under the SDDS Plus will be invaluable in fostering a deeper understanding and assessment of the performance of Spain’s financial sector, the cross-border-financial linkages of Spain, and the vulnerabilities of the economy to shocks.”

The SDDS Plus builds on the SDDS and its purpose is to assist statistically advanced countries with regard to the publication of comprehensive, timely, accessible, and reliable economic and financial data in an environment of continuing economic and financial integration.

The Data Standards Initiatives were established in the mid-1990s to enhance member countries’ data transparency and to promote the development of sound statistical systems. The need for data standards was highlighted by the financial crises of the mid-1990s and again in the late-2000s, when information deficiencies were seen to play a role. The Data Standards Initiatives also include the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) and the General Data Dissemination System (GDDS).

Detailed information on the Data Standards Initiatives can be found on the Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board at www.dsbb.imf.org. For more information on SDDS Plus and its worldwide launch see also the IMF’s press release of 18 November 2014.